


Elastic Heart

by Danjo



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Blackwatch Era, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-18
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2018-12-16 21:01:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 63,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11836971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Danjo/pseuds/Danjo
Summary: Both Jack and Gabriel have been dancing around each other for a while now, neither courageous enough to make a move, but knowing the attraction is mutual. Jesse gets caught in between.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I neede to write a long fic with my OT3 and already have everything planned out. I'm not really happy with the first chapter, tbh but I don't know what else to do with it. Bear with me!

Jesse McCree was nineteen when he was recruited into Overwatch, or more specifically, Blackwatch. It hadn’t been pretty; he was part of the infamous Deadlock gang. When Overwatch had busted the weapon smugglers, he had been taken in for questioning and it was decided he was better off with Overwatch than left to rot in a maximum security prison. It hadn’t only been for his good looks, he’d tell you. But also because he was an excellent shot, he had never lost a duel and no one in Deadlock had been faster or more precise with a pistol than him.

The man who had interrogated him was no other than Overwatch’s poster boy Jack Morrison, hero of the nation. Jesse almost felt special, the man certainly was handsome, he could see why they would choose him to be the face of their organization. Blonde hair, blue eyes and broad shoulders were only a few of his impressive traits. Jesse would have lied had he said he wasn’t immediately smitten with the man.

“You here to woo me?” Jesse smirked and Morrison frowned.

“Excuse me?”

Jesse leaned back in the metal chair, his handcuffs rattling loudly in the interrogation room.

“They send you in to make me confess to all my crimes? You think a handsome face can sway me?” He kept smiling lewdly at the man before him, his shoulders relaxed and his brown hair hanging in his face. Morrison looked unimpressed and glanced down at the files he had taken out of a manila folder just after he had sat down across from Jesse.

“No. I already know you did all of the things you’re accused of. And it is actually the reason why you’re still here and not off to prison with your partners in crime right now.” It was Jesse’s turn to frown. “You see, here at overwatch we value teamwork and skill above anything else.” Morrison fixated him with a serious stare. “While we know that you’re lacking in a few departments, we think sending you off to prison just might be a waste.”

Jesse’s eyes lit up, he sat a bit straighter in the chair, but immediately relaxed again. He could not show that the commander’s words had induced a flicker of hope inside of him. _Don’t show weakness_. Morrison was surely trying to manipulate him, Jesse was tense and wary.

“So you’re saying you’re keepin’ me here _because_ of what I did?” He nervously picked at his gang jacket, the frayed hem had come apart in the last couple of months. His eyes wandered up his arm, where the deadlock tattoo he had was peaking out underneath his torn sleeve.

“That is exactly what I’m saying.” Morrison answered cooly, crossed his arms and leaned back just a bit. Jesse let it all run through his head, him being a part of Overwatch? How would this even work, he had no idea what it meant to be a part of something like that, something _good_. Could he even do it, be one of the good guys? He chewed his lip in thought while still staring at the black ink on his skin and didn’t notice the commander looking off to the side at the mirror on the wall. He kept thinking when he was interrupted by Morrison.

“I know this must come as a surprise for you, McCree.” At this, Jesse looked up. He hadn’t been called by his last name in a while and it somehow made this situation seem all the more surreal to him.

“Call me Jesse, darlin’.” He said out of reflex and also because he didn’t know what else to say.

“Fine, _Jesse_.” The commander said, not acknowledging the pet name and narrowed his eyes, a sparkle showing in them. “What do you say?”

Jesse chewed his lip in thought, took a deep breath and looked at Morrison. “I don’t wanna go to prison.” He couldn’t explicitly say that he wanted to be a part of fucking Overwatch now, could he? That wasn’t his style. Still, he unconsciously pulled at his left sleeve, covering his tattoo.

“That’s a yes, then?” Morrison tried to confirm. He was half leaning onto the table now, his upper body supported on his strong arms. Jesse couldn’t help but look, transfixed by the man’s bulk.

“I...guess.” Jesse answered finally and saw Morrison’s mouth twitch as if he wanted to smile. The man was quick to pack his files and was at the door in the blink of an eye. The youth just stared after him, trying to make heads and tails of what just happened.

“You will be briefed on your duties by Weber.” Morrison told him before exiting the room and leaving Jesse all to himself to think about what he had just agreed to.  


* * *

 

 

Weber, it turned out, was to be Jesse’s roommate from Germany. Yes, he had a room now. As he looked around the accommodations, he couldn’t help but feel that flicker of hope inside him grow just a little bit more.

“And the bathroom is just over there.” Weber finished his small tour of the recruits’ quarters. He had shown him around after Jesse was released from interrogation and been explicitly told to go to his room until he was to be picked up by commander Reyes.

“You been here long?” Jesse asked and Weber shrugged.

“A few months.” He answered. “Tell me a little about yourself, you certainly don’t look like any of the other recruits.” Weber asked curiously.

“Ah, I just like to stick out, I guess.” Jesse began and raised his hand to straighten his hat, only to remember that it had been taken from him, along with his colt, and the loss of it irritated him greatly. He opted to sit down on his bed and felt the covers lightly scratching against his palm. “But I don’t really need to tell you who I am and where I come from, right?” When he looked at Weber, he saw his question confirmed.

“No, we heard what the strike team did with Deadlock, I am just... _surprised_ that you’re here.”

“Cause I’m a criminal?”

“Yeah.”

Jesse laughed. He liked his straightforwardness. “I already like you, Weber.” Jesse smiled and stood up from his bed again to offer his hand. “Let’s always be upfront about stuff.” He watched the other man regard his hand uncertainly and how he hesitantly reached out to shake it. Weber had a half smile on his face.

“Can do.” Weber said and Jesse laughed again, pulling the other in and laying his arm over his shoulder.

“Terrific! Now, show me where they hoard their guns.” Jesse said excitedly and steered them both towards the exit to their room, when there was a loud knock. Weber quickly ducked from underneath Jesse’s arm and stood at attention, casting a deliberate look towards his new roommate.

“Come in!” Weber said loudly and then the door opened. The man stepping inside was dark and intimidating, an air of authority surrounding him. Jesse immediately recognized him for the man who had taken him down in his escape for freedom when his gang had been taken in. “Commander Reyes.” Weber acknowledged his superior and Reyes just nodded at him curtly to turn his gaze on Jesse instead.

“Recruit McCree.”

“You can call me J—”

“I am commander Reyes, and you will be reporting to me or commander Morrison from now on. You will address me as commander Reyes or sir. I expect you to be up by 0500 in the morning and come to training in the gymnasium or the outside training grounds. You will be informed of the routines later. You have sundays off and are free to do what you please as long as you don’t leave the premises. We can’t trust you just yet.” Reyes didn’t look away from Jesse while he spoke. “Do you understand?”

Jesse stared, then realized he was supposed to give an answer.

“Uh, yes.” He said, but when he got no response, he looked from Reyes to Weber and saw the other recruit give him an urging look. He saw back to Reyes, who kept staring at him with the same expectancy. “...Yes, _sir_?” That seemed to have done the trick.

“Alright, follow me recruit McCree.” And with that, Reyes turned around and exited the room, not even bothering to check if Jesse was actually following him.

Jesse hurried after commander Reyes, keeping a distance of a few feet. Now that he was walking behind him, he was able to appreciate the man's physique. Broad shoulders, narrow waist and wow—what a nice butt. And those thighs could probably crush him. He felt a slight tremor run through him at that thought. Why were these Overwatch people so damn attractive? Reyes was wearing black sweat pants and a grey hoodie, the black combat boots on his feet made his footsteps loud and thunderous, like they were announcing his arrival. Jesse liked that and took a mental note.  
  
They went around a corner and Reyes stopped to open a door that led into the gymnasium. He turned around to address Jesse.  
  
“Show me what you've got.” He said and looked down at Jesse, sizing him up. The youth smirked and nodded.  
  
“Gotcha.” He said and made his way through the door but was halted by Reyes’ hand on his shoulder.  
  
“You want to train in that?” He asked and motioned to Jesse’s outfit consisting of torn jeans, a black shirt and the worn leather jacket sporting the Deadlock gang logo on its back. Reyes reached up and briefly took a hold of Jesse’s red neckerchief with an expression of distaste.  
  
Jesse frowned and looked down at himself. “I don't exactly have a change of clothes on me.” Jesse replied and hastily added “sir” at the end. The commander pointed to the locker rooms and told him to follow.  
  
“I’ll give you the standard training uniform and then you can join the other recruits.” He told him when they entered the changing room. He opened one of the lockers and handed Jesse sweatpants and a shirt, along with running shoes. “These should fit you, they're our smallest size.” Reyes said with a patronizing smile. Jesse didn't like the implications, but didn't say anything. He watched as the commander left the changing room and started to undress when he was outside. The clothes actually fit him, even if they were a bit snug in some places. Jesse grimaced.  
  
“Smallest size,” he grumbled while tying his shoelaces. “Asshole.” He went towards the gymnasium again and spotted Reyes standing off to the side watching a few recruits doing some laps. He decided to run off his current anger at the man and started jogging. After a few laps he realized that he wasn't quite as in shape as he had thought he was, breathing had become difficult and his legs were burning. The other recruits who had been running way before him were still at it as if they had just begun and started overtaking him. A brief glance towards Reyes confirmed that the commander was aware of Jesse’s struggle. Reyes smirked at him knowingly. Maybe it was time to show that he was capable of other things. Jesse stopped and caught his breath, slowly moving towards a rope hanging from the ceiling. _Alright, you can do this_ , he told himself.  
  
He wiped his palms on his tightly fitting pants and grabbed the rope firmly. _Here we go_. With all his strength he pulled and managed to climb the rope all the way up, almost slipping before he reached its end, but was able to hold on. Feeling triumphant, he tried to spot Reyes from the corner of his eye, but the man was nowhere to be seen. Huffing in frustration and exhaustion, Jesse made his way back down. He cracked his neck and decided to leave, seeing as his supervisor was gone anyways. Some of the other recruits were also moving towards the showers so he got in line, already taking his shirt off.

Jesse had no problem being nude in front of other people, he was used to it due to the situation in Deadlock. There had never been much room for privacy or modesty among its members, so Jesse had stopped caring about such things. Even when one of his fellow recruits whistled at him from across the showers, he didn’t ignore it or hid, but winked at the man instead. That shut him up quickly.

The water felt nice on his skin, hot showers had been a rarity too, so he took his sweet time getting clean. He gave a contented sigh when he turned the water off and left to grab a towel to move to the locker rooms. Idly rubbing his hair dry, he looked around to see that the majority of the other recruits had finished and left by now. That was fine with him, he preferred to be alone at this moment to relax. He walked to his locker slowly, draping the towel around his waist and finger combing his shoulder length hair. He opened his locker only to find it empty.

“What the—” His clothes were gone. The leather jacket, the red neckerchief, everything. Was this even his locker? He frantically tried some of the others, but they were all locked. With a grunt, he slammed the door and felt at least a little satisfaction at its metallic bang sounding in the room. He turned around with an exasperated sigh and sat down on the narrow bench in front of him, putting his head in his hands. What a great start to this whole overwatch thing. His hand ran through his wet hair when he heard loud footsteps coming closer. Commander Reyes rounded the corner with a bundle in his hands and a stoic expression. He came to a stop not two feet away from Jesse and dropped the bundle next to him on the bench.

“Where are my clothes?” Jesse asked accusingly.

“Here.” Reyes answered and nodded towards the bundle he’d dropped. Jesse tore his gaze away from his superior and reached for the black bag which had a weird looking symbol on it. Just before he actually touched it, Reyes put his heavy boot on the bench right between Jesse and the bag, effectively stopping the younger man in his tracks. Jesse automatically recoiled his hand and looked up at the man. Reyes had his elbow perched on top of his knee, leaning forward slightly. “What are you doing here, recruit?” The man asked with narrowed eyes.

Jesse was taken aback.

Well, it was them who wanted him, right? Commander Morrison said as much. The question really put him off, because he honestly felt so out of place here already. As if he’d had a choice. Sure, he could have gone to prison, like that was an actual _alternative_. Why was commander Reyes asking him this?

Time was ticking by and Jesse felt the urge to give the man an answer, but wasn’t sure what to say.

“You know, prison is not my kinda thing to be honest.” Jesse frowned at him. “If you’re concerned that I might not be able to fit in, then I can promise you I can keep to myself and lay low so your _precious recruits_ won’t have to deal with a bad influence.” Jesse had stood up from the bench while he had ranted to Reyes, his height not merely matching the older man’s in the slightest, even though the latter was currently hunched over. Reyes’ gaze was piercing, searching something in Jesse’s face. The young man was sure he’d enraged the other and braced himself for an outburst. Instead, Reyes removed his boot from the bench and crossed his arms in front of his chest, leveling Jesse with a scowl.

“I was asking you what you are doing _here_ , in the locker rooms. I don’t remember giving you permission to leave yet.”

Jesse clenched his fists. Damn, Jesse always seemed to make a fool himself around the man. When Jesse didn’t answer, Reyes tapped his foot impatiently.

“No...no, sir.” Jesse answered meekly and lowered his gaze. Reyes hummed in acknowledgement, then he picked up the black bag and thrust it into the other’s chest, fully expecting him to take a hold of it. When Jesse did raise his hands to take it from him, Reyes leaned in a little.

“But it’s good to know you won’t harass my _precious_ _recruits_. This better also apply to your superiors.” He told him and turned around while motioning to the entrance of the gymnasium. “I’ll see you out in two minutes, recruit.” With that his heavy footsteps slowly faded away to leave Jesse in complete silence, except for the air conditioning droning in the background. That was the moment his towel decided to just drop to the floor.

“Bastard,” Jesse grumbled when he bent down to pick it back up and sighed while folding it, then looked inside the black bag. Another set of training clothes, great. He put them on quickly and felt they were still pretty snug fitting. He laughed humorlessly and stuffed the bag inside his locker.


	2. Chapter 2

Jesse groaned when he finally entered his room, his whole body hurt and his throat burned from all the harsh breathing. Reyes had made him do an unbearable amount of running, claiming that he lacked in his physical fitness compared to the other recruits. From now on Jesse would stay behind after official training hours and do extra training so he might catch up. Moaning pitifully, Jesse slumped in his bed while he thought of ways to kill commander Reyes.

“Rough day, huh?” Weber asked when he emerged from the bathroom. Jesse only grunted into his pillow, too tired to even talk. With the last of his remaining strength he pulled himself over, his arm landing on his forehead to block out the artificial light in the room.

“No, everything’s peachy. In just one day I managed to get my ass beat by a globally operating military kinda organization which then decides they want me to work for them. So of course I accept, because—” he laughed, “—like I have a real choice here. It’s either Overwatch or prison—”

“Blackwatch.” Weber interspersed.

“Right… _Blackwatch_. Seems fitting I end up in the secret underground part of all this, with the asshole commander on my back.” Jesse sighed.

“Commander Reyes is not so bad, you know.” Weber tried to placate Jesse. “He likes to come off as aloof and indifferent, but once you actually get to work with him, on one of our operations, you’ll realize he cares deeply for his team.”

Jesse scoffed. “Yeah right.” He lowered his arm and directly glanced at Weber. “Can’t say I’m looking forward to working with him even _more_.”

“What did he do, anyway?”

Thinking about it, it hadn’t been as terrible as it had seemed back then, but Jesse was certain that commander Reyes was determined to make his life miserable. He told Weber about his day and his interactions with the commander. His roommate only nodded and hummed in understanding. When Jesse was finished with his retelling, he groaned loudly. “Look, I hate moaning about shit, so let’s drop this and tell me what I can do around here to take the edge off. Nothing to help with frustration better than booze.”

Weber laughed. “Well, we have a common room where you can watch vids and just chill out with the others. Or the observation deck, but it’s usually deserted, especially in the evening.”

“So, no booze?”

“No booze.”

Jesse took a deep breath and swung his legs over the edge of his bed, groaned when he got up and swayed in his spot shortly. He held onto the wall for support. When Weber made to stand and come to his assistance, Jesse simply waved him off.

“‘m fine.” He reassured Weber. “Got up too quickly is all.” Then he smiled at him. “Show me this common room then.”  


* * *

 

Jesse’s days consisted of getting up at an ungodly hour, doing laps and strength training under Reyes’ surveillance and watching everyone leave while he got ready for the second part of his daily routine. Not once did Reyes leave him out of his sight, so Jesse couldn’t even slack off a little. The bastard. After training he would usually be too tired to do anything and just go to the canteen to eat and immediately fall into his bed after. This had been going on for about two weeks, his exercises getting more and more trying.

After a particularly hard day Jesse felt like a zombie. Reyes had kept on pushing him. “One more set,” he said, only to have Jesse do three more. His arms felt like noodles, useless and heavy and he didn’t want to move at all anymore. So after a really quick shower and dressing in his standard off-duty outfit, consisting of a sweatshirt and sweatpants, he scuffled in the direction of his room, not even hungry, only to bump into commander Morrison. He hadn’t seen the overwatch commander in a while, he realized; probably a very busy man. Jesse tried to appear nonchalant, cracked a smile and offered a small salute to his superior.

“Ah, recruit McCree. It’s good to see you again. How are you settling in?” Morrison asked while he tucked his holopad under his arm, apparently unperturbed by Jesse’s tired appearance. The man looked neat as a pin in his blue coat and visor, the blonde hair styled to perfection. It made Jesse all the more aware of his current condition. Jesse shakily ran his hand through his messy hair and nodded with a smile.

“I’m doin’ fine, sir.” He answered and wondered if that was enough for the commander, but the latter narrowed his eyes and cocked his head a little.

“You don’t look so well, actually.” Morrison observed and studied Jesse’s face some more. “Maybe you should have Dr. Ziegler check on you.”

“Oh, it’s fine, sir. Really.” Jesse tried to play it down. “I’m sure your Dr. Ziegler is dandy and all, but doctors and I, we don’t get along so well.” The last time he had been at a doctor’s office, the nurse there tried to draw his blood and only managed after nine attempts, which left Jesse with quite a fear of needles.

“What, haven’t you been to medical yet?” Morrison’s shoulders grew tense, alarm in his eyes. “Then you will go this instant. I will inform the infirmary of your arrival.” And with that, he retrieved his holopad and tapped on it while briskly walking away, mumbling under his breath. When he realized that Jesse wasn’t following him, Morrison turned back around and barked a command. Sighing inwardly, Jesse moved forward to catch up to the commander who led them to the medical wing of the base. “I have a few minutes to accompany you.” Morrison informed him.

They were greeted by a nurse, who ushered them into one of the examination rooms. Jesse’s heart rate picked up upon seeing the white and blue room, probably full of needles and other sharp tools. He tried to stay calm though, the commander’s opinion of him weirdly important now. They didn’t have to wait long, a beautiful blonde woman entered the room, her white lab coat billowing around her lovely figure, Jesse couldn’t help but check her out. She introduced herself as Dr. Angela Ziegler, doctor in charge. He graced her with his most dazzling smile and took his sweet time shaking her hand. With a half smile she turned from him to greet commander Morrison.

“Well, what do we have here?” She asked Jesse and the commander at the same time. The commander opened his mouth to speak, but Jesse was quicker.

“Haven’t had my check up yet, doc. Wondered if you might be able to _squeeze_ me in?” He said in his smoothest voice. He couldn’t help it, he felt nervous about this and the most familiar and comfortable thing for him to do was flirting. It also helped that the doctor was smoking hot. She gave a small laugh and removed the stethoscope around her neck, putting it in her ears and approaching Jesse, who obediently removed his shirt and hopped on the examination table. Why make it more of a hassle for the woman? He never stopped looking at her face during her examination. She really was beautiful, her features were soft, almost angelic.

It was over quickly and Jesse was ready to sigh in relief, but the doctor tapped a panel on the wall and after a short beep a voice on the other side asked what she needed. She told them medical stuff Jesse didn’t understand, but he grew wary nonetheless. When she was done, she thanked the woman on the other end and moved away from the wall towards the other two.

The commander wrote something on his holopad and told them he was needed elsewhere, but that he would check on Jesse again really soon. After he had exited the room a nurse came, carrying a tray. Anxiously, Jesse craned his neck to see what the tray bore, but the nurse had already put it down on a table, her figure blocking his line of sight. His attention was diverted by Dr. Ziegler addressing him.

“Nurse Cannillo will take a blood sample now and then we will do an exercise ECG and a few other other small tests.” Dr. Ziegler told him with an appeasing smile. She threw the stethoscope around her neck again and left Jesse alone with the nurse.

It turned out the nurse was a professional and was able to draw his blood in only one try, not even hurting him. Jesse was thankful for it and in better spirits, even though he had to get on a treadmill and run _again_. Once all the tests were done, he was finally allowed to lay down, his chest still full of electrodes measuring his heart while he rested from the exercise. Tired out of his wits, he closed his eyes for a moment.

When he opened them again it was to the gentle rousing of an unfamiliar nurse.

“You can go and get more rest in your quarters.” She said and gently removed the electrodes from his body. With a yawn, Jesse got into a sitting position, his legs over the examination table and rubbed his face.

“Thanks.” He mumbled and grabbed his sweatshirt while moving to the door. When he was in the lobby, he saw commander Morrison talking to Dr. Ziegler in a corner. The commander spotted Jesse and quickly said goodbye to the doctor, approaching the young man instead.

“Dr. Ziegler told me you’re in good shape, but you need rest. She was worried you’re exhausted so much by our regular training and would like to see you again next week.” Morrison squinted at him and Jesse was confused.

“Maybe you should ask commander Reyes about that.” Jesse didn’t mean for it to come out like a quip, but he had been through enough today and didn’t feel like explaining anything.

“What do you mean, recruit?” At the mention of commander Reyes’ name, something in Morrison changed. His eyes darkened and a crease appeared between his eyebrows. Jesse didn’t feel like complaining like a little child, so he only shrugged.

“Don’t mean anythin’, commander. I’m just tired and wanna go to bed. I’ll be here next week, promise.” He then nodded to the commander once and made to leave, but the strong hand of Morrison landed on his arm.

“Recruit— _Jesse_. You can tell my anything, you know that?” The strike commander seemed to implore him, which took Jesse by surprise.

“Now, don’t worry about me.” Jesse smiled roguishly. It was late and in the soft light of the slightly darkened room, the commander’s blue eyes were piercing; Jesse could have lost himself in them. “I’ll be just fine.” Then, a little quieter he said: “But I gotta say, I don’t mind the attention from someone like you.” He winked at the strike commander, who in turn loosened his grip on the youth's arm in surprise, only to tighten it once more to drag him closer.

“Careful, _recruit_.” Morrison half whispered, his face cast in shadow.

Uh-oh.

“Your good looks probably got you through some shit in life, but here we value other traits.” Morrison checked behind his back if anyone was listening in. One of the nurses hastily scurried away. Morrison turned back to Jesse. “Try to be professional around your peers and _especially_ your superiors.” He took a breath. “Or at least don’t do it in public.” He murmured and let go of Jesse’s arm and straightened his coat. “That’s all, recruit McCree. You’re dismissed.” The strike commander said loudly and didn’t wait for a reply before he left. Jesse stood forlorn in the corner of the infirmary lobby. _He thinks I’m good looking_ , he thought with a grin and made his way to his quarters.

While he walked the many corridors to his room he kept thinking about commander Morrison and his striking blue eyes. He could still feel where his hand had grabbed his arm to pull him closer, how the man had smelled and he suddenly felt color rise to his cheeks. What would those strong, warm hands feel like on other parts of his body, the man’s scent in his nose while soft lips brushed his? Jesse felt his body tighten, he shoved his hands in his pant’s pockets and hunched his shoulders. How long had it been since he touched anyone, or someone touched him; since he relieved some stress?

He sighed. The corridors were illuminated only by sparse lights, indicating that it was night time and people were supposed to get some rest, when suddenly something caught his eye and Jesse looked up to see a dark figure move just out of his peripheral. His head whipped around and he came to a stop. Commander Reyes was moving down the hall towards the commander’s offices at a brisk pace. Only he would wear his black beanie indoors. Jesse was half hidden in shadows, that was probably why the commander hadn’t noticed him yet.

Looking around, Jesse couldn’t see anyone else, so he quietly made his way to the corner behind which the commander had disappeared and peeked around it. There were three doors down the hall, all of them offices. He knew that because he had been summoned to both his commander’s offices once already and he also knew for a fact that commander Reyes’ office was not among those the man approached.

Commander Reyes stopped at the last door, about thirty feet away from where Jesse stood hidden. It was commander Morrison’s office, Jesse remembered and frowned. Had the strike commander already returned to his office after seeing Jesse in the infirmary? The next thing Jesse saw was how Reyes simply opened the door—without knocking—and was illuminated by the lights from within. The man paused and Jesse thought he saw something like disappointment on the man’s face; it was hard to tell being so far away. Commander Morrison apparently wasn’t in. Reyes removed his beanie and went inside, the door closing behind him, casting the corridor in shadow once more.

Jesse released a breath and turned away from the corner. What was the commander doing in Morrison’s office at this hour without Morrison being present? Did he just witness him breaking in, should he tell the strike commander about it?

He was deep in thought when suddenly someone addressed him.

“There you are.” Weber said from close by, causing Jesse to whirl around in surprise.

“Shit! Weber, don’t sneak up on me like that!” Jesse exclaimed and removed his hand from the wall he had grabbed for purchase when his roommate had scared the shit out of him.

“Uh, sorry?” Weber looked confused. “I was wondering where you are. You didn’t show up for supper and I was worried Reyes finally managed to kill you with his training.” He laughed at his own joke, but Jesse only scowled.

He explained his day to Weber while they walked to their room, Weber amazed at how Jesse had been able to dodge his physical for so long. Jesse rolled his eyes at everyone’s obsession with doctors and simply directed the conversation to Weber’s day instead, desperately in need for rest.


	3. Chapter 3

When he had walked into the gymnasium that morning, Jesse knew this day was going to suck. Commander Reyes wore a scowl as soon as he saw him, then waved him over. Mentally preparing for the amount of sheer _moving_ he’d have to do today, Jesse only barely managed to avoid rolling his eyes. His muscles still hurt and he simply felt like crap, but he made his way over to the commander.

“Good mornin’, sir.” He greeted him, hoping he hadn’t screwed up somehow. Judging from the man’s expression there was nothing good about this morning, though. He looked at Jesse as if he was the sole reason for everything bad in the world; Jesse swallowed nervously. This didn’t bode well for him.

“McCree. Today you will train with the other recruits in their sparring sessions.” Reyes told him and looked over Jesse’s head at the aforementioned recruits, warming up in a corner.

“Understood.” Jesse answered and moved over to the small group.

That was weird. He had been sure Reyes was about to give him an earful, but...nothing. He dared to look over his shoulder and still there stood Reyes, glowering after him. The man was scary enough as it was, but having this open hostility directed at him was nerve wrecking to say the least. Jesse took a deep breath and greeted his fellow recruits, most nodded in acknowledgement and others even smiled and greeted him back.

Jesse watched two of the recruits walk up to a big mat on the ground and just dive right in. It looked like they’d been doing this for a while already. He scratched his chin while observing them, wondering if the brawling he had done in Deadlock counted as actual sparring. Still, he felt confident that he could stand his ground against most of the other recruits.

After one young man ended their training fight by pinning the other for three seconds, they got back up and parted with a handshake.

That was when commander Reyes came over to select the people facing each other. They all watched three more fights before Jesse was paired up with a recruit.

“McCree and Ramirez.” Reyes announced, his eyes never leaving Jesse’s face. He almost looked calculating.

Ramirez stood up from where he was seated, he was a lean fellow, not overly bulky, but strong looking nonetheless. The recruit nodded at Jesse once and moved to the mat, already in stance for the fight. Jesse’s nerves flared, all eyes would be on him. Hoping his legs wouldn’t shake, he got up as well and approached his opponent, doing his best to appear self-confident.

“Go.” Reyes said even before Jesse was on the mat and Ramirez came flying at him. Jesse stumbled back as he lost his footing causing him to almost fall flat on his ass. He recovered quickly though and after rolling his shoulders, he pranced forward to grab Ramirez around the middle to bring him down. He didn’t succeed though, Ramirez pushed his feet into the mat and bent down to minimize Jesse’s momentum. Now draped over him, Ramirez pushed down on Jesse’s back, making his knees buckle, but he managed to stay upright with his arms still clasped about Ramirez’ waist.

Feeling his strength waning, Jesse quickly ducked away to the side and brought some space between him and his opponent, just to breathe a little and figure out his next approach. But he hadn’t much time to think of something, because Ramirez was already charging at him again, in the same way Jesse had previously done. Quickly, Jesse rolled to the side, causing the other to stagger and almost fall.

That was his opening. His foot collided with Ramirez’ shin, sending the other flying forward to end up sprawled on the floor. Just when Jesse was about to pin the other down, he heard Reyes call out to them.

“Ramirez, you’re out. You left the mat which is an instant loss.” He barked, his tone showing regret and disappointment. Jesse’s relief at hearing the commander talking like that to someone else for a change was short lived, though. “McCree, that was embarrassing to witness.”

Jesse was flabbergasted. He had just won the match, what else was he supposed to do?

“Alright, next up is Jones.” Reyes announced.

A much buffer young man rose from the small group and approached the mat. Jesse was moving to rejoin the others, sighing inwardly, but Reyes stopped him. “Where do you think you’re going? You only won the last match because your opponent left the mat _like a beginner_.” The man leveled Ramirez with a death glare and Ramirez ducked his head.

Jesse frowned, but tried not to get riled up by the commander’s obvious attempt of showing him up in front of everyone. _Bastard_ , he thought, but kept his face neutral. He could do this, the last fight barely had him breaking a sweat after all. He cracked his knuckles and got into a fighting stance.

Again, commander Reyes gave them the starting signal and off they were, lunging forward and grappling for the upper hand. Jesse could actually feel how much stronger the other was and he was sure that he couldn’t win this fight with strength alone. So when Jones was able to push him on the mat, Jesse ducked to the side only barely avoiding an elbow. Then he jumped up quickly and made to grab for the other’s shirt to pull him aside.

“Foul!” Reyes shouted suddenly and Jesse let go of Jones’ shirt with a confused expression.

“What do you think this is, McCree? We’re not in your little gang hideout anymore. When I tell you you’re supposed to fight, then you fight. Like a man, and not like a snotty nosed little boy.”

Again, Jesse found himself at a loss for words. How was he supposed to know how this sparring shit was done when no one told him the stupid rules? He felt anger rising up inside him, Reyes’ words making him look like the snotty nosed kid he made him out to be. All he wanted to do at this moment was to punch the man.

The commander seemed to sense this in him, because Jesse could have sworn he saw a ghost of a smile on the commander’s lips.

“Now, resume.” Reyes said, then crossed his arms in front of his chest. Momentarily closing his eyes, Jesse tried to calm down a little before he attacked Jones once more.

They sparred for a few moments, Jones gaining the upper hand quickly, but damned if Jesse was going to lose now!

He snarled and pushed the other _hard_ , toppling them down on the mat, ending up on top.  
He waited for the count down, but nothing came. Bewildered, he looked up at Reyes who leveled Jesse with a look of pure disinterest. Jesse wanted to shout at him. _Hey, asshole! Do your job, I’m winning_. But when he opened his mouth there only came a grunt because Jones had knocked a knee in his stomach. Jesse fell aside and off the mat, wheezing for air and clutching his middle.

“Jones wins.” Reyes announced, sounding bored. Still gasping for breath, Jesse fumed. What a total bastard, of course the man had made sure Jesse would lose. After a few more seconds spent on his side, he managed to get back up and was immediately in Reyes’ face.

“That was unfair!” Jesse practically yelled, a small warning voice inside his head pleading with him to _stop_. “You didn’t count when I was winning.”

Reyes arched an eyebrow, his arms still crossed before him.

“You think life is fair, recruit?” Reyes’ arms fell to his sides, his broad frame suddenly looming over Jesse, casting a shadow onto him. He looked ready to murder him, but Jesse was too enraged to care. “You think it’s fair that I have to babysit small pups who think they’re tough shit all day?” He took a step forwards and Jesse stepped back. “Ungrateful mongrels trying to get another shot at life.” They had both stopped on the mat, two feet apart. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed that look in your eyes, the desire to punch me just now.” His dark eyes glittered. “Go ahead, I’d love to see you try.”

Jesse only stared at the man. Some of his anger had faded while he had been listening to the commander and his words had sunk in. Reyes actually hated him, it seemed. But why? Whatever had Jesse done to him that warranted such animosity? He tried to think of something, anything to say or do at that moment, but he came up with nothing.

“Here’s your chance, cowboy.” Reyes taunted him while he rolled up his sleeves and removed his beanie. This image brought back memories from the previous night, when Jesse had seen the commander enter Morrison’s office. Beneath the hat, the man’s black hair was in a buzz cut, and Jesse couldn’t help but stare. This was the first time he actually saw the man in broad daylight without his head being covered.

The commander stood with his feet apart, ready to pounce, Jesse swallowed at the dangerous look on the man’s face.

_This is how I die_ , Jesse thought as he got in a fighting stance for the fourth time that morning.

His whole body was tense as he waited for his commander to finally come at him, but nothing happened. It only caused Jesse to apprehend the initial attack more, wondering if the other was waiting on him to make a first move. They slowly circled each other, like beasts in a cage.

When Jesse couldn’t take the suspense any longer, he moved forward, intent on bringing the other down. What he hit was only air, Reyes had simply stepped aside and let Jesse rush past him. Just before he reached the end of the mat, Jesse was able to stop and turn back around with a huff. The commander’s face was inscrutable as he stood there, just waiting for Jesse to try again.

And try again he did. This time they actually collided, but next thing Jesse knew was that he stared at the ceiling.

With a simple throw, Reyes had used the youth’s momentum against him to put him on the mat. Jesse hissed when he got back up, he would surely be bruised by the end of the day, but he would not back down. So far the commander hadn’t even actually done anything besides dodging and flinging Jesse around, what if he just waited for the man’s attack to show him he was able to do the same?

So Jesse waited. He prowled and waited, his muscles twitched with expectancy and his fingers coiled around air, wanting it to be the man’s throat instead.

Then, suddenly, the commander did pounce. Gathering all his strength, Jesse clenched his teeth in anticipation of a collision. With one hand the commander managed to grab Jesse’s left forearm and pushed it to his right side, turning him in the process and with the other hand he took a hold of his right shoulder. What followed was a quick kick to swipe his feet out from under him and toppling him to the mat once more.

Commander Reyes followed him down and kept a firm grip on his forearm to bend it behind Jesse’s back. The youth gave a short, pained moan; even though the grip wasn’t too hard, the angle at which his arm was at proved to be quite painful.

The commander bent over him and exclaimed a short laugh.

“Was that all?” He asked, his voice low and so close it sent a shudder down Jesse’s spine.

Jesse’s hips rose to throw Reyes off but collided with the man’s groin instead. Jesse whimpered.

Reyes atop him grew still, his breathing had stopped and Jesse’s eyes went wide at the realization of what he had just done. All the blood rushed into his head, he wanted to say something, to explain, but the commander had already gotten up off him and stepped aside.

Jesse was on his feet in a heartbeat, his face still beet red, even his hair hanging in his face couldn’t hide that fact.

Shit, he’d screwed up big time. It wasn’t that he was embarrassed how everyone had witnessed his defeat or that he had practically _offered_ himself to the commander.

No, it was this slip up towards Reyes, the bastard who hated him for no reason and had made it his personal goal to make Jesse’s life a shit show.

Of course the man was attractive, there was no denying it, but so far Jesse had avoided flirting with him as he didn’t want to give the commander the satisfaction of knowing that; the man’s ego was big enough as it was.

“Next up are Valmont and, uh… Miller.” Reyes announced while he grabbed his beanie and pulled it over his head, all the while side glancing at Jesse who was trying his hardest to play it cool. Jesse sat back down next to another recruit and watched the remaining matches, his thoughts whirring in his head.

He’d definitely creeped the commander out, he just knew it. How Reyes had immediately gotten up to break all kind of contact with him. God! That had been so embarrassing.

After the last pair shook hands, Reyes stepped forward and explained some maneuvers they would be practicing the next time, then everyone was dismissed.

“McCree.” The commander called after Jesse when he made his way towards the showers. Jesse winced, but turned around and approached the man after he beckoned him over by inclining his head.

They both moved to a storage room, where the base kept the sports equipment. It smelled of talcum and old leather, an unfamiliar smell to Jesse.

“What is your problem, McCree?”

It was that simple question, this very open for debate kind of question, that had Jesse seething. How dare the man ask him that when he beat his ass not twenty minutes ago in front of his fellow recruits and always made sure he’d suffer as much as possible?

“What is _my_ problem?” Jesse spat at the man, not in the least bit phased as Reyes’ eyebrows shot up. “You are the one who makes me do all the extra work no other recruit has to do. You made sure I fail my sparring, butting in yourself even, just so you can put me down.” He took a breath. “So far you’ve been nothing but indifferent towards me, today you’ve shown your true colors. I beat Ramirez fair and square and you play it down like it’s nothing. Next you fail to count down while I have Jones pinned? I mean, do you hate me or something?”

Jesse was panting, shouting all these things into his commander’s face had riled him up and he had moved closer to the man in the process, invading his personal space. At this point he was too far gone to think about consequences.

Reyes looked bored. “Are you done?” He asked Jesse offhandedly. “If you are so unhappy with my training and efforts to get you on the same level as your peers, you can run off to cry to your commander Morrison.” Reyes’ eyes narrowed.

“You seem to be really _close_.”

Jesse was flabbergasted. “...what?” He asked stupidly. How on earth had he gotten that impression?

“He’s really nice to you, isn’t he? All smiles and gentle claps on your shoulder.” Reyes murmured, looking off to the side. “A real people person he is.” It was as if he spoke to himself, then his head snapped back around to level Jesse with a glare. “You’re not special, he treats everyone like this. The sooner you realize it, the better.” He said bitterly and made to leave.

“You’re jealous.” Jesse couldn’t help it, the statement left his mouth before he knew it. The commander stopped in his tracks, his shoulders visibly tensing. He whirled around so quickly, Jesse flinched.

Reyes crowded Jesse against the nearest wall, but didn’t touch him.

“And what if I was?” The man asked, his hand rested against the wall next to Jesse’s head, his presence looming over him.

Jesse was speechless, he kept staring at him with wide eyes.

He felt the urge to tell him that he could have Morrison if he wanted, he didn’t care—even though he kind of did. This was clearly a challenge though, Jesse felt the adrenaline in his blood making him bold.

“I’d say you’re a coward for not pursuin’ what you want.” The youth stated, a sparkle in his eyes, which caused the commander to grimace.

“You are as stupid as you are ignorant.” Reyes growled as he leaned in just a bit more, apparently trying to intimidate him.

Jesse’s eyes fell to the man’s lips, which were distorted in disapproval and only inches away from his. Subconsciously he darted his tongue out to wet his own, the movement attracted Reyes’ attention and Jesse could have sworn the man’s pupils dilated.

Reyes sneered.

“Learn to walk before you want to run with the big boys.” Reyes said darkly and patted Jesse’s cheek condescendingly. With that he drew away and finally left Jesse alone.

The young man was still leaning against the wall, his legs shaky and his mind whirring.


	4. Chapter 4

Jesse was walking down the corridor to commander Morrison’s office, his conversation with Weber from last night replaying in his head.

“Wow, the boss has it our for you, whatever did you do to him?” Weber had asked Jesse after being told of Reyes’ treatment that day. Jesse actually hated ranting about stuff to other people, but this thing with the commander upset him too much not to talk about it with someone and Weber had proved to be a good listener so far, it made him look trustworthy.

“I am so screwed.” Jesse had sighed while pulling off his boots. “Might as well have gone to prison.” He’d murmured and laid down on his bed.

“Come on now, Jesse.” Weber had said encouragingly. “It can’t be _that_ bad.”

When Jesse had given him an annoyed look, Weber had laughed. “You should just stay away from him as much as possible and try to keep a low profile.”

“Like that is even an option. The guy’s my boss after all, I have to see him on a daily basis and obey his orders without question.” His arms had crossed in annoyance in front of his chest while he had stared at the ceiling picturing punching the commander in his smug face. As much as he’d liked the image, it had morphed into something else all of a sudden.

Jesse pressing his ass into the commander’s groin.

All the blood had rushed into his head. _Shit, that had happened_. He had left out that part when he had told Weber about the last training session, he had wiped his face to alleviate some of the stress and self-consciousness he’d felt at the memory.

“You should talk to commander Morrison about this.” Weber had suggested all of a sudden, effectively diverting Jesse’s inappropriate thoughts. He had looked over at his room mate, who’d had a serious expression on his face.

“You want me to snitch on Reyes?” Jesse had asked in disbelief while he’d gotten up to sit on his bed.

Weber had rolled his eyes. “I’m sure the strike commander would not approve of commander Reyes’ treatment of you.”

Jesse had squinted his eyes at him while he’d toyed with the idea in his head.

Weber had excused himself after their little talk and had left Jesse alone to his thoughts. He had come to the conclusion to sleep on it.

And here he was, well-rested on his day off, about to knock on commander Morrison’s office door. He cleared his throat and lifted his hand, only to stop in his tracks.

“—none of your business who I talk to.” It was commander Morrison's voice drifting through the door, he must have had a visitor. Jesse wanted to leave and come back later, but then he heard another, louder voice.

“Oh, come on. You’re doing this to punish me?” The other voice asked, exasperated. Could that be...Commander Reyes?

“Punish you? I was merely taking care of a recruit.” Morrison responded.

“Yeah, one of _my_ recruits. He’s not your concern.”

Jesse froze, Commander Reyes was with Morrison and he had a hunch they were talking about him. It wasn’t like he was eavesdropping; they were loud enough to hear a good distance away from the door, Jesse wasn’t pressing his ear against it or anything. Still, he looked around to make sure no one was watching him loitering in front of Commander Morrison’s office.

“Tell the kid to back off, this is inappropriate work conduct.” Reyes said.

“Are you for real right now?” Morrison asked with a disbelieving laugh. “Don’t start with inappropriate work stuff now. We both know what this is about.”

There was a shuffle inside, maybe a chair being moved.

“We are not in a relationship, Gabriel. In fact, we are nothing. You have no right to police my private life.” Morrison sounded bitter. There was definitely a history between those two, Jesse swallowed around a dry throat.

There was a pause, then Jesse could hear Reyes a little quieter than before.

“¿Por qué tienes que ser así? Sabes que te quiero, idiota. [ _Why do you have to be like that? You know I want you, idiot._ ]”

Then there were footsteps coming towards him and Jesse panicked, he stepped further away from the door but couldn’t wipe the expression of shock from his face when Commander Reyes stood in front of him. A muscle in the commander’s jaw jumped at seeing Jesse, he didn’t pause though and passed the young man with powerful strides.

“Cabrón.” The man mumbled under his breath while Jesse stared after him.

“Recruit McCree?” Commander Morrison was calling him, causing Jesse to look at the man standing behind his desk and pulled himself together.

“Good day, sir.” Jesse greeted him, resisting the weird urge to bow. Hesitantly he stepped inside.

“Did you need something?” Morrison asked him after he had sat down and started to organize files on his massive desk. Jesse came to a stop before it, his nerves suddenly flaring up in light of the newest information that was uncovered about his superiors.

Reyes actually was into Morrison.

Wringing his hands he felt unsure about his plan to tell the Strike Commander about Reyes’ treatment of him, but what else was he going to talk to Morrison about? He stared into his blue visor.

“I uh, wanted to talk about my training.”

“Commander Reyes just delivered your monthly report, actually.” The Strike Commander held up a folder and proceeded to open it.

Jesse felt nervous, what had Reyes written about him?

Probably that he was good for nothing and should to be sent to prison after all.

“Let’s see…” The rustling of the pages was the only sound in the room, then the folder was closed again, Jesse held his breath. “It seems you’re doing just fine.” Morrison smiled at him in that infectious way of his, but Jesse was too surprised to reciprocate.

He was doing fine? How on earth was that possible?

“Are you sure that’s the correct report, sir?” The question was asked with an awkward laugh, causing the Strike Commander to frown.

“What do you mean, is something the matter?” Concern spoke with the commander’s words, genuine concern, and it made Jesse regret the careless remark.

“Ah—no, I mean… yeah but, now that I think about it, maybe it was the wrong decision to come here.” The volume with which he spoke his words had decreased the more he spoke. Before his inner eye he saw how Commander Reyes had looked at him before he had called him an ass in Spanish and walked away. He understood the language, but felt awkward when asked to speak it, because it had always sounded like he couldn’t decide on which accent to use, or having to mix English words in.

“McCree.”

The young man looked up again. A friendly face gazed back at him, blue eyes searching for something; now was the time to spill the beans.

“I’m just surprised that Commander Reyes thinks I’m doing well.” Jesse admitted.

Again there was a shuffling noise as the commander got up from his seat and moved around his desk to come to a stop in front of it, he leaned against the edge and crossed his arms. There was still quite a distance between them, Jesse was closer to the door than anything else.

“Is there a problem with Commander Reyes?” The question was spoken rather quietly and it caused Jesse to take a cautious step closer to the man, suddenly feeling like they were talking behind the absent commander’s back, it was an uncomfortable feeling honestly.

“Guess he’s afraid I make him look like the rookie.” Jesse joked, but Morrison didn’t even smile, so he sighed and couldn’t help fidgeting. “I’m just not used to all the training I have to do.” Peeking through his lashes at Morrison, he saw the man cock his head to the side.

“It can be tough at first, true. Doctor Ziegler was concerned about your exhaustion after our standard training, though.”

“Yeah, only that it’s more than that.” Jesse mumbled more to himself than his superior.

“What was that?” Morrison leaned forward, signalling that he wanted him to repeat his last words.

“I’m just surprised that the commander thinks I’m doin’ well ‘cause he has me do all the extra training.” Jesse spoke up, surprised that the commander thought what he did was just standard training when in reality it was _additional_ training. And it didn’t look like that was going to stop any time soon either, at least Reyes never told him that he improved.

“That’s interesting.” The commander uttered. “There was no mention of extra training in your report as I recall it.” He looked pensive, then his face contorted into a frown. “Why would Commander Reyes keep this information from me?” He leveled Jesse with a stare so intense, he felt rooted to the spot. How was he supposed to know that? It was Jesse’s reason to come to Morrison in the first place.

“Nevermind, I think I’ll have another chat with your commander.” Morrison said and pushed away from his desk, getting closer to Jesse and stopping a few feet away from him. “Is there something else I should know about?” He asked with an air of suspicion.

Should he tell Morrison about Reyes’ open hostility towards him? Was it too personal, or had he revealed too much already? Thinking how all this could potentially worsen his experience at Blackwatch, Jesse decided against telling Morrison about his fight with Commander Reyes. He now felt like a tattletale already.

“No, nothing else, sir.”

Morrison searched his face some more, then turned away to sit behind his desk again.

“You can go then, recruit McCree.” Morrison dismissed him, already deep into his files again.

Feeling both relieved and mad about himself being too cowardly, Jesse moved towards the door. This hadn’t achieved anything, but maybe it had been a bad idea to begin with. These two were obviously more than colleagues, or had been at the very least, Jesse suddenly felt like an intruder and terrible for listening in on their private conversation.

“Jesse.” The sound of his first name made him stop and turn around again.

The blue visor was in his hand and a more open expression had replaced the professional one on Morrison’s face, he had never seen the commander like that before and it made him feel like he was talking to the real person behind the military man Morrison wanted everyone to see.

“I know Commander Reyes can seem...intense at times.” Fiddling with the visor in his hands, the man didn’t look at Jesse while he spoke. “He’s a passionate man and his work is important to him.”

Where was he going with this?

“I would hate to hear about recruits slandering his name over private things that are of no one’s concern but his.” The commander finally looked at him, his hands had stopped moving and held the fragile visor in a secure grip.

Jesse stared. Of course he knew that Jesse had heard their argument before coming in. “I would never—”

“Good.” Morrison spoke quietly. “But there are people both inside and outside of Overwatch, who would.”

 _Forget what you heard_ , was what the commander meant. They locked gazes for a little while, then Morrison reattached the visor to his head, again becoming The Strike Commander and the topic was off the table. They didn’t say another word, Jesse left the man’s office and closed the door behind himself.

* * *

 

Jesse decided to spend the rest of his day off away from any superiors, he desperately needed to get his mind off of that and so he went to the common room where he found a few of the other recruits playing pool. Among them were the ones he fought at sparring: Ramirez and Jones. The two were laughing and having a good time in the small group, until they saw Jesse entering. Some of them talked more quietly now, their eyes flicking over to where Jesse stood.

“Howdy.” Jesse called with a friendly smile, almost forgetting about his absent hat while his hand was already on its way to tip it, so he quickly tucked his hair behind his ear instead. The small group of recruits answered in various degrees of enthusiasm and friendliness, Ramirez the only one to actually smile back at him.

“McCree, was it?” Ramirez asked and motioned for Jesse to come closer, which he gladly did and soon stood before the worn pool table.

“Yeah, you can call me Jesse, though.” He said and extended a hand towards the latino who laughed good naturedly.

“You want to throw me to the ground again?” The other man asked as they shook hands during their first real introduction.

“Not on my day off.” Came the teasing answer, Ramirez laughed again and motioned to his peers, introducing them one by one. Now that one of their own seemed to be friendly towards Jesse, the others thawed a bit as well, although one person still gave him the silent treatment, it was a tall, dark man sitting on the couch who didn’t introduce himself, Jesse couldn’t even remember seeing him around, but he was happy enough by the semi warm welcome of the others that he quickly forgot about him.

“You play pool?” Asked Ramirez, who already held out a billiard cue towards Jesse, they had made some room for him around the pool table. With a confident smirk, Jesse grabbed the blue chalk and rubbed it over the cue.

“Oh, I played from time to time, though it has been a while.” With an air of expertise, he bent over the table, the cue sliding smoothly through his fingers and coming to rest on his knuckles. He felt a small adrenaline rush as he knew that everyone was watching him and if he wanted to impress them he needed to be precise.

His arm drew back, eyes only focused on the white ball in front of him, dull from use and sporting blue spots everywhere. Gauging the force with which he’d have to hit the ball, he unconsciously opened his mouth a little and darted his tongue out, then his arm shot forward and the cue pushed the ball. It missed the green ball and instead hit the rail, rebounding to the opposite side where it hit a yellow ball, successfully sinking it in the pocket.

Ramirez clapped him on the shoulder.

“We have a trick shooter among us guys, I want to play against you first.” He said good naturedly and Jesse already liked the man, he smiled at him in relief (no one had to know he had aimed for the green ball) and nodded in approval. They started their game very casually, talking a lot about what brought them here. Apparently, a few recruits didn’t even know about Jesse’s origin or why he had joined them in Blackwatch.

He was bombarded with questions, how had he gotten into the Deadlock gang, what had it been like there and if he had blackmailed someone important to get into Overwatch. That last question took him a moment to answer, he didn’t want to boast or seem too sure about himself.

“I’m pretty good with a pistol, I guess they thought that might be useful.” Jesse said as casually as possible and aimed for another ball on the pool table.

“You have to show us.” A woman with a short ponytail and a friendly face said to him, she had introduced herself as Rebecca Hanson. “At the shooting range.”

“I’d love to, darlin’.” He said. “But I’m afraid Commander Reyes doesn’t want me handling a pistol yet.” Jesse couldn’t keep the bitter undertone out of his voice when he spoke to her, he stared at the green felt of the pool table, idly twisting the cue in his hands, almost missing the woman’s slight blush at his casual endearment.

She cleared her throat to gain his attention once more. “Why’s that?”

“Let’s just say he doesn’t trust me, that whole _used to be in a gang_ thing doesn’t seem to reassure him.” Jesse told her with a wave of his hand. “I kinda have the feelin’ he doesn’t like me much.” The room fell silent as no one could really come up with a counter argument, it was a little awkward, Jesse felt the need to change the subject but then there was a scoff to be heard from across the room.

It was the tall dark man who had given Jesse the hateful look earlier that night. He sat on the couch with their back to them and zapped through the TV program.

“Alright, it’s my turn now.” Jones suddenly interjected and removed the cue from Ramirez’ hand, casting a challenging look towards Jesse.

But he didn’t feel like playing anymore, so he excused himself and handed the cue to Hanson, letting his hand brush hers just to see if he had seen correctly before. When she blushed again, he smiled and wished her luck.

Ramirez stood off to the side of the group and Jesse used the opportunity to talk to the man more privately.

“Hey, who’s the guy over there who hates me?” He asked in a hushed tone and avoided pointing to the man, instead cocked his head in his general direction.

Ramirez made a dismissive gesture.

“Don’t mind Lambert, he’s always trying to suck up to Reyes whenever he can. He really wants to stand out, you know? Thinks he’s meant for greater things.” They both looked at him openly now, Lambert was busy watching the news channel.

“I guess he doesn’t like all the attention you get from the commander.” Ramirez concluded.

Jesse made a non-committal sound and kept looking at the man, wondering why anyone would want the kind of attention Reyes gave.

The night went on with the small group having fun and chatting about everything and nothing, Jesse felt more at ease, glad he had made the decision of joining them and feeling confident in having found a friend in Ramirez.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter today, sorry!

Bleary eyes looked back at him from the bathroom mirror, a five o’clock shadow on his lower face and his hair stuck out in all directions. They had spent last night talking and having fun in the common room, for longer than Jesse had anticipated and he felt the weariness from too little sleep deep in his bones.

With a yawn he bent down to the sink to wash his face when he suddenly had a flashback of last night’s dream. 

_ Strong hands caressing him, soft lips gliding over his back towards his shoulder with a slight scratch of a beard and hot breath on his neck. _

Jesse stared at his reflection, water dripping from his chin, but he didn’t really see, the memories in his mind providing vivid imagery. 

_ Kisses to his shoulder blades, then suddenly he was turned around and looked at Reyes above him, giving him the sexiest bedroom eyes he had ever seen.  _

Fuck. 

Fuck, fuck, fuck,  _ shit fucking fuck _ .

He felt embarrassment and that weird artificial intimacy from a wet dream and tried to shove it down with all his might, clutching the sink, desperately splashing water in his face. 

He really couldn’t use this now, not when he was about to see and train with Reyes in a half hour. Goddamnit, he needed a shower. Angrily, Jesse stripped out of his shirt and boxers and doused himself with cold water until his teeth chattered. 

_ It’s ok, you got this. It was just a weird dream, it doesn’t have to mean anything. By midday you’ll have forgotten about it entirely and with it that stupid feeling of  _ longing _ will be gone too _ . Inhaling and exhaling slowly, Jesse relaxed into the now warm spray of the shower and washed himself.

By the time he got dressed, he felt more optimistic about this day, even if only a little, he mentally pep talked himself, repeating how he would try to interact with Reyes as little as possible. That should make things easier, he hoped at least.

Actually seeing the commander was something different, though. Jesse couldn’t help but stare at the man’s broad shoulders and enormous thighs, he swallowed drily and averted his gaze, trying to get lost in the small crowd of recruits. 

Thankfully, training was uneventful, only once did Reyes acknowledge Jesse’s presence, when he told him it was his turn to climb the rope. He was relieved that he was left alone for the most part, even getting comfortable in the physical activity. It helped getting rid of the tension and stress a little. 

When training was officially over and it was time for everyone to leave, Jesse sighed and mentally prepared for the extra round he’d have to do only to find Reyes leaving the training grounds as well. Confused, Jesse jogged up to him. 

“Commander?” He asked, Reyes turned around with an unreadable expression. 

“What?”

Uh, what did he think Jesse was going to ask him about? This was not how things usually went. What an infuriating man. 

“What about my extra training?”

“There is none.”

Jesse stared.

“Why not? Have I finally caught up to the other recruits?” He asked, half expecting Reyes to laugh at him. 

“Yes, sure.” The commander said dismissively and turned back around to leave.

That was not the answer he had expected, Jesse found himself standing still, trying to comprehend how this had come to be.

Then it clicked. 

Commander Morrison must have had that ‘little chat’ with him. Jesse felt sick to his stomach, but why? Wasn’t this what he wanted, to be left alone and be considered at least on the same level as his comrades? Then why did this feel like he cheated,  _ betrayed _ his commander? 

Then again, the man had treated him like shit, so why he wasn’t happy about this was beyond him.

_ You like his attention, _ came his enlightenment and Jesse groaned inwardly at his realization. He must have still been brainwashed by his stupid wet dream to think he liked Reyes. 

Suddenly feeling the urge to stop him, Jesse ran forward and grabbed his commander’s arm, trying to shake the annoyance at the sudden disinterest in him. 

The look of surprise on Reyes’ face was quickly replaced by irritation. His whole body language told Jesse that he had clearly crossed a line here, though he did not look angry yet.

“Careful.” Reyes warned him with narrowed eyes. 

Jesse couldn’t help it. 

“Or what?” He challenged the much bigger man who immediately started crowding Jesse against the nearest wall, caging him between his arms, his nostrils flaring. 

“Or I decide I’m done playing your little games, boy.” Reyes growled at him, Jesse briefly worried what this display might look like to an outsider happening upon their encounter, but remembered that everyone had already left for the locker room. 

“You’re giving me mixed signals here.” Dark eyes searched his face.

“Do you want me to hit you?” Eyebrows drawn together they cast Reyes’ eyes in shadow, Jesse fully expected a fist to his face at this point.

But then Reye’s gaze traveled down Jesse’s body, it felt like he was bared to the man, as if he wore nothing at all. The commander’s voice pitched deeper, huskier. 

“Or do you want me to fuck you?” A powerful thigh slid between Jesse’s legs, making him gasp in surprise.

All the blood shot into Jesse’s face, it felt like an out of body experience with Reyes so close, his words hanging between them and why hadn’t Jesse answered yet? When he finally took a breath again he still wasn’t able to form a coherent sentence, his mouth hanging open uselessly. He could only stare at the man’s lips.

Then Reyes moved in even further, causing a shiver to run through the youth, the commander’s breath ghosting over his face. It was clear to him in this moment that he wanted the commander to close the distance between them.

He was officially screwed. 

Reyes sneered. 

“Ni siquiera lo sabes, ¿no? [ _ You don’t even know it yourself, don’t you? _ ]” With that he finally pulled away, leaving Jesse leaning against the wall for support, looking at the floor. 

The commander had no idea how wrong he was. 

 

* * *

 

Jesse couldn’t even remember how he got to the locker rooms or getting undressed, but here he was in the shower underneath the warm water and watching how it pooled beneath his feet to disappear into the drain with a gurgling sound. 

Dazed, that was the perfect description for how he felt at the moment, snippets of his conversation with Reyes repeating in his head, along with the sensations he’d felt at the man’s words and actions, his proximity.

He was still blushing just thinking about the things he’d said and that very solid knee between his, his face felt hotter than the water, questions whirring in his head. 

The most prominent was: Why? Why would Commander Reyes say this,  _ do _ this? It didn’t make any sense, not after the way he had been treated in these past months, or the things he had overheard in his superior’s office. 

Or maybe it was an elaborate prank, he wasn’t serious. That must have been it, the commander was merely trying to push him away. He was into Morrison after all, so it was a scare tactic. 

Jesse realized he was rubbing shampoo in his hair so angrily that it started to hurt. With a sigh he rinsed it, shutting his eyes and trying to think of something else besides stupid Reyes. The man was already playing a bigger role in his life than he should and that caused Jesse to worry, being involved like that was not wise at all, especially in the military. Then again he wasn’t even sure what exactly Overwatch actually was, was it a government operation or something privately funded? 

He toweled himself off and went back to his locker, dressing in his off duty outfit, a pair of dark gray sweatpants and a tightly fitting black shirt. He was still deep in thought when he closed the locker door, so when he saw someone standing there behind it he jumped in surprise.

It was Lambert, looking displeased.

“Damnit, you scared the crap outta me!” Jesse exclaimed while taking a small step backwards and easing a hand through his wet hair. The other young man had his arms crossed before his chest, nonplussed about Jesse being upset. 

“Do you screw the commander?”

All the blood left Jesse’s face.

Had Lambert seen him and Reyes just now when they had that...conversation? He couldn’t imagine how but he had to say something.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Jesse asked him with enough outrage that it wasn’t obvious he was trying to hide something, or at least he liked to think that. Lambert didn’t seem all that convinced though and cocked his head to the side. 

“I know what you’re doing, McCree. You somehow got the commander to notice you.” Lambert uncrossed his arms and took a step towards Jesse, who struggled not to flinch or move at all. “I have no idea how you did that, but certainly not because of your outstanding performance, that is for sure.”

_ Ouch _ . 

Lambert’s face contorted in anger.

“Do you know how much I’ve worked my ass off for commander Reyes to notice me? How many weeks— _ months _ I’ve been trying to get private tutelage?” Lambert was seething, all the frustration he felt unleashed at Jesse. 

Lambert bent down, he was slightly taller than Jesse and leaned against the locker on his right. 

“So I’m asking myself how did you do that if you and him aren’t fucking?”

Now it was Jesse’s turn to be angry, after taking a deep breath he looked Lambert directly in the eyes.

“Fuck off, Lambert. It’s not my fault he didn’t find you interesting enough to be considered for his special training.” Jesse spat at him and he could see the other’s face going from angry to furious. “I never asked for any of this either. You think we’re screwing? Are you out of your mind? Have you actually ever  _ been there _ when Reyes talks to me? I don’t think so, because then you would know that the man  _ hates _ me.” Jesse kept staring Lambert down, whose face had relaxed a little, a look of irritation remaining. 

He hoped his little outburst convinced Lambert that he and Reyes were not having an intimate relationship, he thought his arguments were pretty solid. 

Several seconds passed, both just staring each other down.

Finally Lambert leaned away from the lockers, moving his right arm to press his pointer finger into Jesse’s chest. 

“You better not lie to me, McCree. But I  _ will _ find out what is going on with you two.” He hissed, then turned around to leave. 

“Oh great, let me know once you do!” Jesse called after him only to be flipped off by Lambert. 

He sat down on the bench with a huff, this day was a disaster, he couldn’t wait for it to end. 


	6. Chapter 6

A week had passed without incident, practice stayed the same except for the lack of additional Reyes time for which Jesse was happy but also a little disappointed.

Okay, he was  _ really _ disappointed. He had grown used to the training  _ and _ the man, he had realized grudgingly. Now Reyes was barely talking to him, whenever he addressed him it was a short order, void of any emotion, not even the usual anger or enmity. The indifference was depressing to be honest, Jesse couldn’t believe that it affected him so.

There was one highlight this week, though. They were finally allowing him to go to the shooting range. As he was holding his standard issue practice pistol, he felt elated, giddy with anticipation. Its weight was nowhere near that of  _ Peacekeeper _ , his revolver was a far heavier specimen, bigger with a longer muzzle, but this one would do for now.

He aimed at the target across the shooting range and pulled the trigger, as he watched the bullet hit its mark he felt the stress from the last weeks melt away a little, so he kept firing and thus increasing his mood. He went through multiple targets, his aim becoming better and better, finally getting comfortable with the weapon in his hand. 

Most of the other recruits had left by now, it was late in the afternoon, but Jesse was not done yet, he had fallen in a comfortable silent trance while shooting his pistol, remembering aiming at cans on a fence during his Deadlock time, sighing at the memory.

It hadn’t been a bad time he had had in the gang. There was a clear hierarchy everybody was aware of, just like in Blackwatch. The only difference being that there was only one big boss with whom Jesse had no contact with because the guy liked to remain unknown to the majority of the gang members, especially the “small fry”. He had been content with his role in the group, though. They had allowed him to shoot stuff and that was all he’d really cared about. 

After a few more targets, he finally decided to call it a day, laid down his weapon and removed his protective earmuffs.

“That was pretty impressive.”

Jesse turned around and saw Commander Morrison standing behind him, blue eyes practically glowing and a half smile on his face. He was not wearing his usual blue coat and visor, but instead the standard black compression shirt and brown cargo pants. 

“Commander Morrison.” Jesse saluted after getting over the initial surprise.

Morrison leaned against a gear locker, crossing his arms in front of him and motioned to Jesse’s target with his head.

“Is this your first time shooting since your recruitment?” He asked.

“Uh, yeah actually.” Jesse said and rubbed his neck self-consciously, not because he was embarrassed of his shooting skills, but because he felt complimented by Morrison’s interest in him. Then there was the conversation they’d had last, when they talked about Commander Reyes, which resulted in Morrison taking care of Jesse’s problem. Should he bring that up; thank him? Or would that be weird? Before he could say anything though, the commander spoke up again.

“I have a reason for seeking you out, actually. There is going to be a training mission soon and I think it would be a great way for you to use your skills hands-on. What do you say?”

Jesse was thrilled, a training mission! He would finally be able to get out of here for a while.

“Yes! Yes, sure I’d love to go.” He answered excitedly, already seeing himself doing heroic stuff and saving the world. Weird how he could finally see himself as the good guy. 

Morrison’s smile widened. 

“Great, I’ll fill out the paperwork then.” The commander responded. Judging from the man’s tone, Jesse assumed he was taking his leave then but when he didn’t move from his spot, he wondered if there was more. 

“Thank you.” Jesse said sincerely and smiled back.

Morrison was still looking at Jesse, the praise for his shooting from earlier still affecting him, he felt warm and tingly inside, his cheeks blushing in light of the man’s offer for showing his worth in the upcoming training mission. 

Jesse didn’t know where to look, the commander still had his eyes trained on him and he wasn’t sure of what to do or say. It also didn’t help that Morrison looked handsome as ever, making Jesse feel a little awkward and out of place. Still, he felt the need to break the silence.

“You look different today.” He said, watching Morrison’s face beaming at him.

“Oh?” The man exclaimed, the corner of his lips rising more.

Jesse leaned against the booth he was standing in, looking down his superior’s front.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you out of that blue coat of yours before.”

“Is that so?”

A smug smile stretched across Jesse’s lips.

“Yeah. I like it, it makes you appear more...casual and approachable.”

Morrison shifted.

“So you’re saying I usually look uptight and mean?” His eyes crinkled.

Raising his hands placatingly, Jesse sought to clear up the misunderstanding.

“No, no that’s not what I’m saying at all. I just meant that you look good.”

Morrison laughed.

“Good, huh?”

Whoa...this was getting a little out of hand, but Jesse felt the stirrings of excitement inside him, egging him on.

“Yeah, really good actually.” There, he said it.

He watched as Morrison looked to the side to hide his smile, and when he made eye contact again, his tone got a little more serious.

“Are you flirting with me, cadet?” There was a sparkle in his eye, Jesse swallowed his nerves.

“Maybe. What if I am?” His heart was beating wildly and all he could focus on were Morrison’s eyes, squinting at him.

“I’d say that would be very… unprofessional.”

Jesse’s heart sank, Morrison was rejecting him. He had went too far and now he would kick him out for inappropriate behaviour towards a superior. He looked at the floor in silent resignation, mentally slapping himself for slipping up like that.

Then he heard Morrison move towards him, his heavy combat boots appearing in his line of sight.

“But aren’t we all from time to time?” Came the man’s afterthought, and Jesse perked up, seeing his smile again. He was so close now, they were barely a foot apart in the small booth.

Suddenly there was a warm hand cupping Jesse’s cheek as Morrison bent down to him.

“Would you like us to be unprofessional,  _ Jesse _ ?” He rasped in his face, eyes searching his. 

Speechless, Jesse opened his mouth to respond, but couldn’t find the words. Was he dreaming? This couldn’t be happening right now, his commander asking him this, being so close. He was reeling, blushing furiously and his hand clenching and unclenching at his sides while his whole body was tense with anticipation.

He could say no and it would all stop right there and they’d probably never mention it again, but it was time Jesse paid those checks his mouth kept writing. 

So instead of giving the man an actual answer, he simply nodded his head, not trusting his voice at this point.

Morrison chuckled quietly, his breath caressing the youth’s face pleasantly, whose eyes drooped as he moved his face towards that of his superior.

It was a simple brushing of lips on his, but Jesse was already lost in the kiss, eyes closed of their own volition, head tilted back a little, the warm hand of Morrison still on his cheek. He thought it already amazing, but then Morrison brought their chests flush together, eliciting a gasp from Jesse and deepening the kiss, involving their tongues.

Jesse couldn’t stop the needy sound he made when the hand from his cheek wandered to caress his hair instead, raising his hands to hold onto the man before him.

He could smell the man’s faint musk and aftershave, it suited him so well, he thought and inhaled more of it just for the pleasure of it. All his senses were acutely aware, the fabric of the sleek shirt underneath his palms, the soft lips on his, Morrison’s  _ warmth _ . Jesse didn’t want it to stop. 

Then, regretfully, Morrison pulled away, but his hands held onto Jesse’s upper arms to help him steady himself, the man was laughing a little breathlessly. 

“You alright?” He asked Jesse in his deep voice, which sent a wave of goosebumps down Jesse’s back and arms.

“Yes, sir.” Jesse was amazed that he was able to respond in his daze, even though his voice was wheezy and barely audible.

“You can call me Jack when we’re off duty.” Morrison— _ Jack _ said and brushed a thumb over Jesse’s bottom lip.

Oh. He definitely would.

“Yes, sir.” Jesse repeated himself and Jack laughed again, squeezed his arm and let go to walk out of the room with a wink.

“I’ll see you around then, Jesse.”

Jesse was still standing in the booth, half leaning against the wall and staring at the door that Jack had just exited through, taking a deep breath and feeling the fog in his brain lift a little.

_ Holy shit, you just kissed Commander Morrison _ , he realized and covered his lower face with his hands. What was he thinking? Wait, what was  _ Commander Morrison _ thinking? How could he let this situation escalate like this, wasn’t he supposed to be the superior here and not encourage a hot-headed young recruit? Jesse could still feel his heart beating fast in his chest and decided he needed to lay down.

* * *

 

That night Jesse couldn’t sleep. Tossing and turning in his bed, he kept thinking about Commander Morrison and the kiss they had shared. He was still unsure of why and how that had happened, but couldn’t deny the feeling of happiness he felt at remembering the man’s words and actions. 

It all felt so unreal, sure Morrison had said he thought Jesse was good looking, but that didn’t mean he was interested in him like that...right? But apparently he was, they fucking  _ kissed _ . 

Jesse huffed and hit his pillow which was not cooperating with him because it felt like he was sleeping on lumps and rocks. 

“Hey man, could you maybe tone it down a notch?” Weber asked him in a sleepy voice. Damn, now he’d woken Jannik. 

“Ah, sorry Jan. I just can’t seem to find the right position to sleep in.” Jesse half mumbled his excuse and was already on his way to turn around for the thousandth time that night.

“Uh-huh. Is that why you keep sighing the whole time?” His room mate wanted to know, his sheets rustling with movement. 

“It’s—” Jesse exhaled. “It’s nothin’, I’m sorry that I woke you up.” He tried to end the conversation, but then Jannik turned on his bedside lamp, making both of them squint in the light. Jannik sat upright and rubbed his eye, a quick glance at the clock told them it was after two in the morning, barely three more hours to sleep. 

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on with you lately?” Jannik sounded a little annoyed, maybe because he had tried to talk to Jesse this evening already and only got told to drop the subject. Of course his roommate had picked up on Jesse’s unusual silence towards him and he was probably worried.

Jesse held his breath for a second, contemplating if he could tell Jannik about this  _ very _ delicate piece of information. But he’d told him everything so far and he had always been trustworthy, so he too sat up in his bed and removed his comforter, he was too hot anyways.

“Please promise you won’t tell anyone about what I’m gonna say.” His request sounded very serious and immediately Jannik perked up, his brow creased in wariness. 

“What did you do?” Excitement and dread sounded in Jannik’s voice, then he hastily added “I promise I won’t tell a soul.”

Jesse rubbed his face nervously, searching for the right way to tell Jannik what had happened.

“It’s about the commander.”

Jannik snorted. 

“Who else? What happened with Reyes this time?” His roommate asked with an air of annoyance. 

Frowning, Jesse briefly wondered if he’d actually complained about this thing with Reyes that much. Poor Jannik always has to listen to him whine about it. 

“No, Commander  _ Morrison _ .” He clarified and watched the other’s brows draw together in confusion. 

“What, you managed to upset him, too?” He laughed in disbelief, Jesse joining in at the end. 

“No he’s not mad at me, it’s quite the opposite…” He trailed off, feeling embarrassed and like a schoolgirl telling her best friend about that cute boy she likes. “He, uh, he kinda kissed me?” 

The look of utter disbelief on Jannik’s face soon morphed into the biggest shit-eating grin. 

“What?!” He practically yelled, and almost fell out of bed. Then in a more hushed tone he added: “Are you fucking kidding me? He  _ kinda _ kissed you?”

Cheeks blushing, Jesse looked at the floor and hoped it had been the right decision to trust Jannik. 

The young man was still snickering. “Heilige Scheiße… Alright, you have to tell me everything.” Jannik said after finally calming down a little. And Jesse did, he told him how he had always flirted with the commander because well, he wasn’t  _ blind, _ but that he’d never really meant much with it, it came as a natural response to attractive people so to speak. And then today the commander did  _ that _ and Jesse wasn’t sure of what it all meant. His roommate kept nodding and humming in understanding through it all. 

“And now here I am, confused and worried.” Jesse concluded, picking at the lint on his pajama shorts. 

“And horny for Morrison.” Jannik teased him.

“And that.” Jesse admitted with a laugh and fell back in the sheets. 

“The strangest part about all this is that I believed Morrison and Reyes had a thing going on.” Jesse said offhandedly.

Jannik startled. 

“Why would you think that?” He asked and Jesse paled. Shit, he’d forgotten that Jack didn’t want anyone to know about the conversation he had witnessed between the two commanders. Quickly, he tried to explain. 

“I dunno, just the way they sometimes look at each other…” He desperately hoped it was a good excuse for it, wondering if he ever actually had seen the two together outside of Jack’s office but coming up short. Stealing a hidden glance towards Jannik he wanted to know if the other might come to the same conclusion as him. 

“Huh, you’re right. I was wondering why I saw them smiling and touching in a dark corner yesterday.” Jannik said and Jesse started, shooting up into a sitting position. 

“What, you did?” He asked incredulously. 

“No. Because you  _ never _ see them together outside of duty. But now I know that you know something you’re not telling me.” 

Jesse’s mouth hung open, he had just been busted. 

“Damnit, fine.” He sighed in defeat and told Jannik about their superior’s conversation he’d had overheard  _ and _ the part where Morrison had told him to keep his mouth shut over it.

“Wow,” Jannik exclaimed. “To me it seems the two had something going and now you came into the picture and fucked it all up.”

“Hey, you’re supposed to be on  _ my _ side here.” Jesse huffed, but it sounded very true how Jannik summed it up. Then an ugly thought wormed its way into his head. “You don’t think Commander Morrison is trying to get a rise out of Reyes with this, right? Make him jealous or something?” He felt unease gnawing at his insides. 

“I honestly don’t know the man very well, but from the way you told me about their conversation I kind of doubt he’d do that. He doesn’t strike me as the kind of person who uses other people.”

Jesse felt the truth ringing in Jannik’s words, he had gotten the same impression from Morrison in the short time he’d known the man. 

“But to be safe, you should tread carefully for now, Jesse. These kinds of things can go south pretty quickly.”

Jesse nodded, deep in thought. A look at the clock told him it was almost three in the morning. 

“Anyway, thanks for listening to my incessant ramblings, man. I owe you one.” He smiled at Jannik and yawned. 

“I hope we both will get the opportunity to sleep now.” His roommate answered and was already on his way down to bury his head in his pillow. Jesse did the same and soon the light was out, only their breathing and faint rustling of sheets could be heard. Closing his eyes to rest, he was interrupted by Jannik one last time. 

“You have to keep me updated though, you know that right?”

Jesse exhaled in laughter before finally drifting off to sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heilige Scheiße - Holy shit
> 
> (I didn't add the translation because Jesse doesn't understand German)


	7. Chapter 7

Today was a good day, Jesse decided. Finally he was able to get away from base for a change.

On top of that, there had been a surprise waiting for him in his laundry basket. His Stetson hat lay cleaned on his other laundry, a relic from his past atop of his new life. He’d exclaimed in joy upon seeing it, immediately putting it on his head, when he noticed a small note had fallen out.

_Either get a haircut or wear this thing_ , it read. It wasn’t signed.

Jesse frowned, wondering if it was from whom he thought it was, judging from the note’s tone he had a hunch. Then he bristled at the implication. What was wrong with his hair, had it gotten that long?

Touching his mop of brown hair he realized that it already reached his shoulders, maybe it _was_ time to cut it. He would wear his hat for now, though. It felt familiar and glorious to have it back, he sighed in content and pulled it in its usual position, grinning at his reflection in the mirror and then left for his day off.

Gibraltar was a beautiful place, now that he could take an actual look at it. The mountains and seaside combined were a sight to behold, being used to the red desert environment of New Mexico.

He took the bus to a nice little beach as far away as he dared and couldn’t help the smile upon having his toes in the sand again. A light breeze touched his face, it was a warm day and he closed his eyes while enjoying the bright rays of sunshine upon his skin. As he walked along the beach he stepped on a seashell, then bent down to pick it up. It was beautiful, dark and coarse on the outside with the most intricate detail to it, soft and brightly iridescent on the inside. Of course it reminded him of something, or rather some _one_.

Wow, he couldn’t even catch a break from his commanders away from base, he sighed and decided to take the seashell with him for good measure, intent on not letting anything dampen his spirits.

Seagulls were screaming overhead and the waves were crashing on the little bay he had entered, he sat down on a spiky rock and simply watched.

He thought of his long lost family, his father who went missing when he’d been two years old and whom he hadn’t had any real memories of and his mother always trying to make ends meet for their little family. But most of all his grandmother who had been with him the longest time and whose heart he’d broken when he’d decided to join the Deadlock gang. Even now he felt that pang of regret and guilt when thinking of her tears as she threw him out of her small home telling him to come back when his head was back on straight.

She had taken him in after his mother had passed away, always there for him in times of need. But Jesse hadn’t wanted her to work anymore, it had been time for him to give something back. Joining Deadlock had seemed the perfect opportunity and at that time a great idea. But now that he’d been out for so long he wondered how he could ever have been so stupid.

One day he would go back to his grandmother and apologize, show her how he changed now that he was a part of something good in the world. Would she be proud?

Was she even still alive?

Anxiety gnawed at him, he should check on her, make sure she was okay. Taking a mental note about this, Jesse got up to walk off the stress of worry and unconsciously went back towards the bus stop that would bring him back to base.

* * *

 

When he got back into the gigantic building complex of Overwatch headquarters it was evening and the last light of day had disappeared behind the horizon. The time he’d spent at the beach had energized him, he wasn’t tired at all. He decided to pay the shooting range another visit, hoping no one else had the same idea. Being alone for a little more felt like a luxury if he was honest.

Jesse was in luck, the last recruit was leaving the shooting range just as he entered, giving him a big smile.

“Hey, Jesse.” It was Ramirez, Jesse realized and was finally able to tip his hat at the other recruit, who seemed to be amused at Jesse’s new appearance.

“Nice hat,” Ramirez said and gave Jesse a once-over. “What, no spurs?” He asked with a laugh.

Jesse joined in. “I’m waiting to get those back too, actually.”

Both laughed some more, then Ramirez clapped him on the shoulder in goodbye and he was finally alone again. Smiling a little more to himself, Jesse used the fingerprint panel to access his training gun and entered a booth, pushing the button for a new target to appear.

Reloading the pistol had been difficult the first few times but now Jesse was almost as quick as reloading _Peacekeeper_.

He sighed.

His six shooter had been a part of him ever since he’d gotten it as a reward for a job well done, he missed it as much as he had missed his hat. Maybe he’d get it back one day, just like the Stetson, it didn’t seem impossible at least.

Finishing up by putting the gun back inside the locker, Jesse checked the clock on the wall and was shocked to see it was well past midnight. He still wasn’t tired though and instead of going to his quarters, he decided on watching some vids in the common room.

It wasn’t too farfetched to expect the common room to be deserted at this hour, it was a normal day for everyone and getting up at five in the morning was hard with only four hours of sleep, so when Jesse saw the television cast its dull light onto the figure sitting on the couch he was surprised. Even more so when he realized that it was Commander _fucking_ Reyes.

_He hasn’t noticed you yet_ , he thought and made a beeline back to the exit, only to bump into a small side table.

“McCree?” Reyes had turned around to look at the source of the disturbance and Jesse swore on in the inside. Stupid furniture.

“Good evening, sir. I was just leaving...” He pointed at the door, trying to excuse himself.

“Sit with me.” Reyes said and waved him over to the couch, already turning around again.

Jesse rolled his eyes hard, wondering what he’d done to deserve this but ultimately going to the couch. When he approached his commander he noticed the bottle of amber liquid on the coffee table, along with a half empty glass. So Reyes was drinking alone, it sent a weird pang of sympathy through him.

Jesse’s mouth watered at the sight of the liquor, he hadn’t had any in such a long time. Judging by the emptiness of the bottle, the man must have had a few glasses already, Jesse looked at his face and was surprised to see him in good spirits.

Reyes was _smiling_ at him.

“Come on.” The man patted the free spot next to him.

The hell? This was new territory, undiscovered land and Jesse felt nervous all of a sudden. Never before had the commander been nice to him, not like this anyway.

Jesse smiled back, albeit a little unsure and took a seat next to the man.

Some rerun of an old telenovela was on, the volume was very low but he could make out that they were talking in Spanish. Somehow he didn’t dare look at Reyes, this whole situation was absurd. But he also felt like he needed to say something, and he blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“Thanks for my hat.” He said and watched Reyes’ face. The corner of the man’s mouth rose a little.

“Dunno what you’re talking about.” Reyes answered and downed his glass of bourbon. Wordlessly he refilled it, then offered it to Jesse, who was unsure if he should accept.

“You want it or not?” The commander thrust it forward, dangerously close to spilling its contents. So of course Jesse had to take it, he couldn’t let the man waste a perfectly fine glass of bourbon.

It tasted different from what he’d had in the past, richer and also more refined. This must be some quality booze, he contemplated the drink and didn’t notice the way Reyes was looking at him from the corner of his eye.

“Good stuff, isn’t it?” The man’s slightly slurred words interrupted his musings.

“Uh, yeah. Thanks.” Jesse affirmed and set the glass on the table while the liquid burned its way down his throat leaving a pleasant warmth in its wake. He’d need to have a few more glasses to make this situation bearable, it was intimidating to sit next to his commander and having to act all casual when he was really nervous on the inside. The last time they had been alone their conversation had been pretty...intense.

“I, uh… I think I’ll call it a night.” It was late and he had already indulged Reyes, sat and drank with him. What more could he want?

As he got up, Reyes suddenly spoke to him.

“I’m sorry.”

Jesse froze in his spot, wondering if he’d heard right. Had the man just _apologized_? Jesse laughed in disbelief.

“Commander, with all due respect, you’re drunk and probably shouldn’t say things you might regret later.” As he said that he watched Reyes frown and move a hand over his mustache.

“Give me a break, _pendejo_.” Exasperation rang in Reyes’ words, but he also laughed in the end. “I’m trying here, so bear with me.”

Jesse considered the man before him for a second, then decided to sit down again, removing his hat to lay it on the couch’s armrest.

When Jesse didn’t say anything else, Reyes took a deep breath and leaned both elbows on his knees, his biceps bulging and his hoodie stretching over his back.

“I’m sorry that I treated you like shit. It was unprofessional of me.”

_Unprofessional_. The word rang in Jesse’s head, conjuring up memories of Commander Morrison and his cheeks flushed, he was thankful for the semi dark they were in or it would surely have been evident. As it was, Reyes didn’t even look at him, but his clasped hands instead.

“I’m not expecting you to forgive and forget, but trust me, if I could explain I would.”

It was then that Jesse realized it. Why Commander Reyes had acted like this the whole time, his constant comments and jabs.

“It’s okay.” Jesse said and smiled knowingly to himself.

The other looked up at him. “It is?”

“Yeah, I have an idea why you were such an ass towards me.”

Reyes looked at him skeptically.

“You are into Commander Morrison.”

Reyes’ face fell. His brow creased and his dark brows drew together.

“Now what would make you think that?” The question sounded half irritated and half anxious.

Jesse told him how he overheard Reyes’ and Morrison’s conversation the other day and even quoted the last sentence Reyes had spoken to Morrison, how he _wanted_ the other man.

Brown eyes stared at him, while a few emotions chased each other over the owner’s face.

“¡Hijo de puta! [ _You son of a bitch!_ ]” Reyes exclaimed and fell back in the cushions. “You speak Spanish?” Reyes was incredulous and apparently annoyed at himself that he hadn’t considered the possibility.

Jesse couldn’t help the small laugh at seeing his usually stoic commander showing so much emotion, it made him seem… _human_.

Once Reyes had recovered from his laughing, he reached for the liquor bottle again, pouring a glass and taking a swig.

“Podrías haberme dicho. [ _You could have told me._ ]” He sounded so hopeful, Jesse thought. Probably happy at the prospect of sharing his native tongue with someone else.

“Ah sorry, sir. But I’m not good at _speaking_ Spanish, I do understand it though.” Jesse hoped it wouldn’t be too much of a let-down, but Reyes still looked happy and urged him to drink from the glass, which Jesse did.

“So what does Morrison have to do with my treating you like this?” Reyes asked offhandedly. 

“You're jealous, obviously. That the two of us are close.” Jesse explained, no need to add insult to injury by telling him that they had kissed, too.

Reyes scoffed. “Nice try, _cabrón._ I am never jealous.”

Jesse only shrugged, let the man delude himself, he had already admitted to it with that previous reaction.

From then on they kept talking about their past and families a little, sharing the bourbon in the single glass they had. They didn’t mention Morrison again, though.

“Your grandmother sounds great. I miss my _abuela,_ too.” The older man said wistfully, eyes going distant with nostalgia.

“Yeah… I wonder if they’re oka—” Jesse was interrupted by Reyes reaching up above himself and pulling his hoodie over his head, leaving him in a black tank top.

“It’s so _warm_ in here.” The man complained, probably the result of the alcohol, Jesse thought.

Up close he could see Reyes’ incredibly big shoulder muscles and biceps, pectorals moving under the shiny material of the undershirt. He realized he was staring and quickly tried to play it off by sipping on his drink, but he had been caught. 

Reyes smirked and flexed his muscles.

“Like what you see?”

Jesse almost choked on his drink, blushing furiously in embarrassment. The alcohol didn’t help, he too felt warm now, beyond warm actually and his tongue loose on top. Biting his lip, he found he _did_ like it, Reyes was incredibly hot, Jesse had been hooked from the first time he’d seen the man.

“You’re—you’re beautiful.” Jesse stammered and flushed even more at his choice of words.

There was a sparkle in Reyes’ dark eyes before he started laughing in joy, causing Jesse to avert his eyes in embarrassment.

“I haven’t been called _that_ before.” Reyes leaned a little closer. “You’re quite beautiful yourself.” He said with a wink.

Jesse was beet red, stammering a small thanks and feeling the urge to leave grow stronger by the second.

Several moments passed, then the sound of the leather couch creaking told Jesse that Reyes had moved further towards his end.

“You’re cute when you’re flustered.” The man murmured and brushed the hair out of Jesse’s face. Their eyes met again and Jesse felt his heart leap into his throat, the look on Reyes’ face showing his desire. He swallowed around a suddenly dry throat.

“Do I make you uncomfortable?” He was asked and at first he couldn’t answer that, he was too intoxicated by both the alcohol and the man’s proximity. But as he tried to assess the situation he felt that he _wasn’t_ uncomfortable, anxious yes; terrified of the unknown but also intrigued and feeling a need deep inside him to sate this curiosity.

Jesse shook his head.

Reyes came ever closer, one arm resting on the back of the couch, looming over Jesse and casting him in shadow.

“Do you want me to leave?” It was almost a whisper that caused a shudder to go through the young man.

_God no_ , Jesse thought and tried to defuse the situation with humor.

“You were here first.” He half laughed and Reyes smiled at that.

“You’re right, I _was_ here first.” But the way he said it sounded distant, like he was talking about something else. Before Jesse could wonder more about that comment though, his lips met those of his commander, very tenderly.

The kiss didn’t come as a surprise, but still Jesse inhaled sharply through his nose, overwhelmed with the sensations of Reyes’ mouth on his and the big warm hand on his thigh. The mustache tickled and scratched in all the right ways too and Jesse moaned, loosened up by the booze in his belly.

Still, Reyes’ movements were soft and gentle, he did nothing more than kiss, only brushing his tongue over Jesse’s bottom lip, then moving away just an inch, hovering before the youth who had to catch his breath with his eyes firmly shut.

Jesse didn’t dare open his eyes again, he knew he would lose his heart to the man completely if he did. He couldn’t help it though, his curiosity got the better of him and his eyes fluttered open.

Reyes was staring at his lips, then his gaze wandered upwards, Jesse saw a faint blush on his beautiful tan skin. He looked directly into Jesse’s soul and that was it, that rippling warmth inside him felt like it would burst out of him any second. It was so strong, he almost sobbed.

Oh fuck, he was so _fucked_. First Morrison, now this?

Panicking, Jesse shot up, only barely avoiding a collision with the floor as he wobbled over to the other side of the couch in his drunken state, mumbling an excuse as he searched for the door.

In his hurry to flee Jesse didn’t see the smirk on his commander’s face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Throws soft Gabe at you and runs away crying*


	8. Chapter 8

The door to his quarters closed with a slam, Jesse immediately regretted doing so because the sound woke Jannik, who startled awake and switched right into defense mode. 

“Wha—what’s going on?” Jannik looked around anxiously, but visibly relaxed upon seeing that it was his roommate who seemed to be fine. Still, he appeared slightly alarmed. 

“Shit, Jan. I’m sorry, didn’t mean to wake ya.” Jesse was still standing at the door, shakily holding himself up by pressing his back into it. Jannik gave him a sour look, then lay back down into his sheets, grumbling something in German. 

Running away like that must have been incredibly childish and insulting towards Reyes, Jesse mused and frowned at his actions. They had kissed, he had kissed  _ another _ of his commanders, what was going on? With trembling fingers he traced his lips, forlorn in memory and woozy with alcohol. 

“You kissed Morrison again or something?” Jannik asked jokingly from his bed, he was propped up on one elbow and shooting Jesse a suggestive grin. Of course he was still interested in knowing what had kept Jesse so long. But when the other shook his head, his face twisted in worry. “Is something wrong? Are you… drunk?”

“I didn’t kiss Commander Morrison… but Commander Reyes.” Jesse half whispered, ignoring the second question. Jannik’s eyes bulged, he sat back up. 

“Are you out of your fucking mind, man?” Jannik almost shouted, it was like a slap to Jesse’s face, a reality check showing him the gigantic mistake he had made. A headache was starting to form behind his eyes, he pinched the bridge of his nose, all the while Jannik went on. 

“This is a terrible idea, how did this even happen, I mean first Morrison, now Reyes. You realize they’re both your superiors, right?”

Staring at the floor before him, Jesse let Jannik drone on about how he should stop this  _ kissing business _ with both men and keep away from them outside of duty altogether. Worry sounded in his words, he must have been concerned for Jesse. Amidst his misery it felt nice that Jannik cared about him like that.

After some more preaching, Jannik sighed and deflated a bit, went quieter. “Don’t you at least like one more than the other?” He asked, pushing Jesse deeper into despair because, no he didn’t like one more than the other. Differently, yes; but he really liked them both. On wobbly legs he finally moved away from the door toward his bed, slumping down miserably. 

“I dunno.” Was all he said to Jannik, then a silence fell between them and Jesse could hear his ears buzzing uncomfortably. 

“This is straight out of a soap opera, dude.” His roommate tried to cheer him up and laughed a little, but Jesse didn’t feel like laughing at all, he needed to lie down now or his head would spin right off his shoulders. Jannik’s face sobered again and he seemed sorry for what he said but Jesse didn’t really care at the moment, his pillow was calling him and he’d answer right now. With a final good night to Jannik the lights went out and Jesse fell asleep with the aid of the alcohol in his system. 

* * *

 

With a pitiful groan Jesse opened his eyes the next morning, his head felt like a tank had repeatedly ran it over and shot it on top. He desperately needed painkillers, he decided upon sitting in his bed and feeling the world spin around him. 

Had he really drank that much? Or had it only been too long and he underestimated Reyes’ liquor? 

_ Reyes _ … just thinking about him sent a blush to Jesse’s cheeks. Surely things had changed between them now that they had done  _ that _ and heidly wondered what it would mean to their daily interactions, which would begin very soon he realized with horror and quickly got up. He instantly regretted his decision though, when he had to hold on to the bed frame before losing consciousness. That had been too quick, his body was still trying to catch up from last night after the abuse in the form of too much bourbon. 

Holding onto the wall for support, he made his way to the bathroom, at least he wasn’t nauseous he sighed in relief. The medicine cabinet wielded a small first aid package as well as some pain killers.    


“Halleluyah!” Jesse exclaimed half-heartedly and popped two of the pills in his mouth then chased them down with a big swig of tap water. Water was a good idea, too he realized while gulping down mouthfuls of the clear liquid, suddenly feeling parched.

He caught his breath and scrutinized his appearance. Dark circles under his eyes, a sullen complexion and his hair lay matted on top of his head. Damnit, he had no time left to get decent, a quick wash of his face would have to suffice, as well as brushing his teeth. It was getting late, so he hurried out of his room towards the gymnasium, still dressed in his sleeping wear. 

A change of clothes was waiting in his locker there, Jesse smiled at his new found responsible side which liked to plan in advance; yes he felt a little proud of himself for  _ preparing _ . One too many times had he forgotten to switch the old and smelly clothes with fresh ones. The pain killers seemed to have kicked in as well and he sighed at the relief they provided, he was still dizzy though and would have to be careful not to overwork his body today. 

As he entered the gymnasium, the first thing he noticed was the absence of their commander. Reyes was nowhere to be seen, which was more than odd, never before had the man been late to training. Worry gnawed at him, even though he knew it was probably due to too much booze from last night and nothing serious. Carefully, he sat down on a bench and tried to not look as terrible as he felt by chatting up a nearby recruit about nothing in particular and only half listening because he was still waiting for Reyes to make his appearance. 

When he finally arrived, Jesse was surprised to see that he didn’t look hungover at all, a little slow in his movements, but that could be played off as sore muscles from too much workout. Of course the man could hold his liquor, Jesse chastised himself for expecting his commander to be as affected as him. He couldn’t help but wonder how much of an alcoholic he must be to have such a kind of tolerance, the thought made him uneasy. 

There were butterflies in his stomach, the memories of their kiss still replayed in his head and the emotions he’d felt at the man’s kind words and gentle touches made him fist the material of his pants. Suddenly, he realized something. His heart was beating wildly, what if now that Reyes was sober, he thought it had been a mistake? Or worse, that Jesse had taken advantage of him? He shot him fearful glances, both hoping to catch his eye and for him to be overlooked. As it was, Reyes was addressing everybody, his gaze sweeping over their heads and once he was done, went over to a corner to produce a holo pad and tapping on it with concentration. 

Huffing in resignation, Jesse stood up and joined the other recruits for their daily laps. Of course it was exceptionally hard today, his head had started pounding again after the third round and he could feel his muscles cramp up, he was thirsty as ever and decided to stop for the moment, even going so far as to squat down next to the running track. He’d be dead by lunch at this rate. Another furtive glance towards Reyes told him that the man was still preoccupied with the holo pad, who knew for how long. So Jesse opted to sit down until he was told otherwise. 

He didn’t have to get back up again, Reyes looked up from the pad in the last five minutes of their training session and dismissed them all with a “Well done, see you tomorrow.”

Well, that hadn’t been so bad, Jesse shrugged and struggled to stand. On his way to the showers he would pass the commander, his belly made a flip, but before he was even there Reyes removed himself from the bench and left the gymnasium, the only acknowledgement Jesse got was a hard stare. Now he felt his stomach sink, the nausea finally rearing its ugly head. Fuck, it seemed things hadn’t changed  _ at all _ . Sighing, Jesse held his tummy and scuffled to the locker rooms. 

This was just his day, it seemed. Lambert was already waiting for him sitting on the narrow bench which stood in front of his locker and bore lots of fresh towels. Great, what did he want now? Jesse approached him with a forced smile.

“We have to stop meeting like that.” He said jokingly through the annoyance at his fellow recruit. He would not be cowed by him.

But Lambert didn’t even acknowledge Jesse’s exquisite humor ( _ the stick-in-the-mud _ ), all he did was get up from the bench to unravel to his impressive height and take a step towards the other.

“Pickle juice is supposed to be a great hangover cure.” He said drily, then reached behind the pile of towels on the bench to reveal Jesse’s hat.

_ Oh. _

Hot and cold sensations ran through Jesse, numbly he took the Stetson out of Lambert’s hands and stared at the young man who left him standing there without another word. He must have forgotten the hat in the common room in his haste to leave last night. After making out with Commander Reyes. Last night. Making out. With Reyes. Oh god.

_ He knows _ . The thought kept running through his head, while he stowed the hat in his locker, just staring at it blankly and wondering what to do. Tell Reyes about it? He didn’t exactly feel confident enough to approach him at the moment, that stare had said it all. But he had to do  _ something _ . 

_ Shit! _ He slammed the locker door closed, earning a few inquiring stares from the other recruits who had already showered and were now dressing. He didn’t care, if it was up to him he’d let them all know, but apparently there would be a problem for his commander if word got out, at least that’s what Morrison had made it sound like after overhearing their conversation.

Morrison, he’d talk to Morrison. But as he thought on doing that the realization of what he’d done with Reyes was making him laugh in despair. Let Morrison know he’d made out with Reyes, after he’d kissed him first? Hell, he didn’t even know about their relation to each other, they could be anything or nothing. Would it make sense though, after both of them approached him on their own and fucking  _ kissed _ him? 

They surely must be plotting against Jesse, there was no other explanation for it. They were trying to drive him mad slowly, not letting him in on anything. And he was falling for it— _ them _ —like the fool he was. His superiors must be playing him, using him in their little game. There were tears welling up in his eyes, what had he gotten himself into? Angrily, he wiped them away as he stomped over to the showers, greeted by steam.

He dropped his clothes to the floor, uncaring about anything right then, turned the water to its hottest setting and let it scald his skin, all the while making the decision to take Jannik’s advice and keep away from both men outside of duty completely. Silencing the small voice inside which kept speaking up  _ But what if…? _ was harder than he thought, but he steeled his will. He would not be a pawn in their fucked up game,  _ whatever it was _ .

* * *

If Jesse had thought his day couldn’t get worse, boy was he wrong. He was slouching in his bed, depressed and irritated, when Jannik came in, closing the door behind him carefully. The way he just stood there at the door made Jesse tense up in apprehension.

“What is it?” Jesse didn’t mean for it to sound so harsh and demanding, but frankly, he couldn’t take any more bad news today.

“I um, I’m supposed to tell you that Commander Morrison would like to see you in his office.” Jannik said with an apologetic look. With a groan Jesse pressed his pillow over his face, trying to suffocate himself. Right now he felt like dying would be preferable to seeing the man today. Holding the pillow in place for a little longer, he finally resigned himself to face this uncomfortable situation. 

Throwing the pillow aside, he got up and smoothed a hand through his hair, idly wondering when he’d become such a slob and decided on visiting the bathroom before facing Morrison. But of course not because he wanted to look his best, no. It was simply to show him that Jesse was not affected by their game, that he didn’t care. He’s never been one to be exclusive with any man or woman anyways.

He put on a fresh shirt and pants, then his hand hovered above his Stetson, should he put it on? Or would it be considered rude to wear it when summoned to his superior? Well, he would be firm and direct, but not  _ rude _ . So he left it lying on his night stand.

Whatever Morrison wanted to talk to him about, Jesse could face it and emerge unscathed. That’s at least what he told himself as he was walking down the corridor to the Strike Commander’s office, his pulse quickened, but not acknowledged.

He knocked at the door with confidence, not willing to show any kind of weakness. 

“Come in.” He heard Morrison call from within, he took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

What he saw wasn’t Morrison though, but the broad back of a different person standing in front of the commander’s desk, almost completely shielding the man from few. Then the blonde peeked around the dark figure in front of him, a smile gracing his features. 

“Ah, Jesse! It’s great that you made it today, I was hoping to speak to you.” Morrison said cheerfully, then motioned to the man in front of him, who finally turned around. “I was just talking with Commander Reyes about the upcoming training mission I signed you up for.”

Jesse didn’t know how to respond, Reyes was giving him a stare he couldn’t look away from, it was a mix between contempt, mock and something else, the man’s arms crossed in front of him. It was almost an expectant stance he had taken on. 

No, no, no, he absolutely hadn’t prepared for Reyes being here as well, this was more than he had anticipated. 

“The training mission?” Jesse asked dumbly and mentally slapped himself for sounding so surprised. Of course, what  _ else _ would he be talking to him about? He quickly recovered from the shock of seeing Reyes in the office and squared his shoulders. “I’m ready, Sir.”

Morrison’s smile widened, but Reyes scoffed. 

“Is there a problem?” Morrison asked the other commander with a frown. Reyes’ gaze shifted to the blonde. 

“He’s not ready.” He simply stated, like it was the most well-known fact in the universe. Jesse felt small, insufficient, and his shoulders slumped just a bit. 

“But in your reports it says he’s doing great.” Morrison sounded confused, moving to pick up the sheet of paper giving testament to Jesse’s progress, or  _ lack _ thereof it seemed. With a dismissive gesture of his hand, Reyes went over towards Morrison, taking the report from him and laid it back down on the desk.

“It doesn’t matter what the report says, this is a mission, and as Commander of Blackwatch I say he will not go.” It sounded final and Jesse felt his heart sink, but it also infuriated him to hear Reyes slander him like that, it was a  _ training _ mission for fucks sake, how tough could it be? 

Morrison’s eyes had narrowed to slits, he apparently didn’t like the way he was being talked to, he was still Strike Commander and thus at a higher rank than Reyes.

“Too bad that I—the _ Strike Commander _ —already said that he will go.” The blonde said challengingly while crossing his arms, Reyes did the same and they stared each other down. 

“You’re gonna pull rank on me over this?” Reyes said disbelievingly, seemingly outraged and affronted that Morrison would do this. Jesse felt out of place, he’d rather have been anywhere but in this office. He clasped his hands behind his back, looking anywhere but the two men before him, they had apparently forgotten about him.

The argument went on, Reyes incredulous that Morrison would go over his head like that,  _ again _ and he would not let him interfere with his recruits. Morrison in turn, seemed exasperated that Reyes was constantly antagonizing him and second guessing his calls. Their voices rose and while they were arguing, they were moving about the room, hands shooting up in the air, wildly gesturing. It was all too much, Jesse was tense and uncomfortable that he had to witness this, so when the argument had started to shift back towards their original topic, Jesse, he had had enough. 

“It seems like the two of you have some issues to work out, maybe once you’ve come to a conclusion you can tell me about it.” Jesse spoke up, immediately both men’s attention on him. This was his moment to make his grand exit and open the door, but heavy footfalls made him turn around again, Reyes loomed over him, his hand on the door and pushing it closed. The loud thudding went right through Jesse, like a lock falling in place and keeping him here. 

“You will stay.” Reyes growled at him, then while keeping his hand firmly on the door and standing within arm’s reach, he whirled his head around to Morrison. “I say he’s not ready.” He stated it matter-of-factly.

Heaving a long sigh, Morrison came forward to the other two, eyes closed and pinching the bridge of his nose. When he opened them again, he suddenly had a very different expression on his face, it could almost be called mischievous. He propped his hands on his hips and looked straight at Jesse. “Tell me then, Gabriel. What is Jesse lacking?”

The sudden shift in atmosphere made Jesse uneasy. First name basis? It gave the whole situation a very intimate vibe he wasn’t sure he was comfortable with, was this even about official Blackwatch business anymore? Brief flashbacks of the things that had happened with Morrison and Reyes made him blush slightly.  _ Call me Jack when we’re outside of duty. _ A wink, bulging biceps and softly spoken slurred words in his ear.  _ Do you want me to leave? _ He could feel his embarrassment climb ever higher and he just wanted to be far away. 

Reyes, who was closest to Jesse with his arm in his face extending a hand to the door, let his eyes roam over the young man before him, finally holding his gaze in a scrutinizing manner. 

“He’s not very good at making choices, deciding on things.” The man said directly in Jesse’s face, but obviously addressing Morrison. Jesse frowned in confusion, looking from Reyes to Morrison, whose mouth twitched in a semi smile. Could it be they meant—? 

As he saw Morrison coming closer, Jesse unconsciously took a step backwards, immediately followed by Reyes whose hand fell down to his side, but he wasn’t coming so much  _ at _ him as he was moving behind him. In only two more strides Morrison— _ Jack _ stood before him, eyes crinkling and not leaving Jesse’s face.

He was cornered. 

“Hm, I must say that I noticed it too.” Jack said to Reyes, standing over Jesse with just a foot of space between them. Both men were a few inches taller than him, as well as broader, even though Jesse himself had filled out nicely after all the training he had done. Still, it made him feel small and while it should also have made him uneasy, it strangely didn’t. He felt rather safe, a feeling he had only rediscovered since joining this group of soldiers. “Maybe we should help him with that. It is a requirement after all.” Jack finished, peering at him through hooded eyes. 

They just stood there, all three of them, neither touching anyone, but Jesse felt their presences around him, encompassing, grounding him then and there. There hung an unspoken question between them, of which the answer could make it all stop in an instant. 

“I… what?” There was no stopping the stupid question from leaving his mouth, but Jack didn’t seem to mind, he slightly bent down to his level, causing Jesse to take another step back, the intensity in his eyes was exceeding the levels of what he could handle right now and bumped into Reyes’  _ very _ solid chest behind him. With his deep, rich voice Jack asked him that until now unspoken question. 

“What do you say Jesse, do you need help?”

The young man swallowed nervously. “Help with what?” 

From behind him Reyes answered. “ _ Deciding.”  _

Letting the implications run through his head, Jesse came to the conclusion that he had been right. The two had been playing him, but not in the way he’d thought. Rather than plotting against him, they had been testing the waters, dropping a hint here and a compliment there, all the while trying to figure out what Jesse would make of it,  _ them _ as an item. All three of them. It had not been about Morrison and Reyes, Jesse and Morrison or Jesse and Reyes.

But Jesse, Jack and Gabriel. 

Jesse shook his head, watching the brief flash of surprise on Jack’s face, then he smiled.

“Don’t think I need to decide on anythin’.” Jesse drawled, then he watched Jack smirk in comprehension and look over his shoulder at Gabriel. 

“Fetched ourselves a smart one.” Gabriel laughed and the sound rippled through Jesse pleasantly. He felt giddy, the praise was like he had run a hundred miles in the desert and could finally drink water. He was that thirsty for it.  _ That  _ scared him a little, if he was honest. But his thoughts were interrupted by a warm hand on his shoulder, reminding him of his situation and that he should either let it continue or put an end to it once and for all.

One thing he knew for sure, he was done being passive.

Without further thinking about it, Jesse reached for Jack’s face with both hands, gently holding them to guide their faces together. It might not have been their first kiss, but Jesse was still nervous to do it right. No one would call Jesse McCree a bad kisser, so he gave it his all, sensually licking over the man’s soft lips to coax them open and then delving inside, eliciting a surprised, but pleased sound from the man. It only fuelled his ego and he grew bolder, hands sliding behind Jack’s head and back to push him closer. Jack happily obliged and did the same.

Jack was warm and smelled so damn  _ nice _ , his arms circling him firmly, Jesse wanted to stay in this embrace forever. 

Forgotten was the world around him when they finally parted again, both a little out of breath and smiling lazily. As he was opening his mouth to say something, he could only gasp because Gabriel was suddenly nuzzling his neck from behind, sending goose bumps and jolts of pleasure through his whole body. This was his absolute weak spot, and Gabriel was kissing him there and tickling it with his beard, making the youth bare his neck fully to give the man better access. His knees buckled as he heard Gabriel purr in his ear. 

“My turn.” He said and reached forward to tilt Jesse’s head towards his, kissing the corner of Jesse’s mouth who chased after Gabriel’s lips with his until he had turned around fully and was facing the man. 

Not wasting any time, Jesse reached upwards to clasp his hands behind Gabriel’s neck, surging forwards to kiss him once again. It started in chaste touching of lips but soon they were practically devouring each other, each hungry for the other. He felt Gabriel’s massive hand move from his side down to his butt and squeeze him firmly through his pants.

Jesse blushed and drew back to breathe through his mouth, suddenly aware of where this whole situation could potentially lead to. His heart was in his throat, but one look at Gabriel told him that he was still in control of himself, he had merely—once again—tested Jesse, how far he could push before the youth would back down. Sure, it wasn’t a hard push, but it had still crossed a line into new territory. Unfamiliar waters Jesse was  _ eager _ to explore. 

Gabriel must have seen the thoughts flicker over Jesse’s face because he smiled, a genuine smile, which sent Jesse’s heart beating wildly again, this nice side to Gabriel was still new to him. New and exciting, it made Jesse feel special somehow. It felt like he was only smiling for him, it made their encounter all the more intense and simply beautiful. His head was swimming with emotion and his heart and belly were doing backflips as Gabriel released him to put some distance between them.

As Jesse looked around himself he saw that Jack was still behind him as well, a pleased expression on his handsome face. Now that their little makeout session was over, Jesse’s cheeks turned even redder. He had both his commanders’ attention on him, the knowledge of what they had just done hung heavy in the ensuing silence. Slightly embarrassed about it all, Jesse wondered what would happen now. 

Jack looked at the clock on the wall and went over to sit back down behind his desk. In an official tone he addressed Jesse. 

“You are dismissed, recruit McCree.” He said curtly, already tapping something on his holopad. 

Jesse stared, then turned to Gabriel who was in the process of putting on his beanie and stood aside the exit, only a hint of a smile remaining on his face. With a gesture towards the door he was Commander Reyes again. 

Disappointment, but also intrigue and hope were warring within Jesse as he gave both men a last look and left through the exit, the door falling shut behind him with a dull thud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shamelessly stole pickle juice as a hangover cure from Dream Daddy :)  
> Also: Jannik is pronounced like Yannik


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long, but I'm back!

The next few days were uneventful, regular training and his day off were followed by more training, all the while no acknowledgement by either of his commanders of what had transpired between them. Of course he hadn’t expected it, it was obvious that both Jack and Gabriel had wanted to keep their private affairs, well, private. And that meant no lingering looks or stolen touches in public. If Jesse was honest all the secrecy made the whole thing even more exciting, especially the  _ abstinence _ . Now that he had tasted blood he wanted more, and they were depriving him of it. He craved their attention, just a few minutes alone with them was all he needed, but unfortunately whenever he requested a word with one of them he was told to be patient and wait a bit more as they were unusually busy.

Jesse sighed as he was making his way back from the shooting range to his room, not even wielding a pistol was able to cheer him up today it seemed. He felt like a lovesick teenager constantly pining for their crush, it was ridiculous, honestly. Grimacing, he closed the door to his shared room behind him and shuffled over to his bed.

It had gotten late, he saw with a quick glance to the bright blue lights of his bedside table alarm clock. Maybe it was best to call it a day, but as he looked again at the table he noticed a neatly folded piece of yellowish paper lying there. Curiously he reached for it to unfold it. Inside was a short message written with a fountain pen in elegant writing. 

_ Jesse, _

_ if you still want to join that training mission, you need to convince Commander Reyes that you are ready to go. I already made an appointment for you, so please go to his office ASAP. _

_ -Strike Commander Morrison. _

Reading the letter once more just to make sure he had read correctly, Jesse folded it again to give the clock another once over. Confused, he remembered their last conversation, how they had all come to the same conclusion: that he was ready. Or had they? He wracked his brains for the answer, but couldn’t remember how Gabriel had allowed him to go. Damn, he had totally not thought of that anymore. 

It was so late… the note had probably been left here hours ago when he had still been at the shooting range. That appointment definitely long overdue. Briefly worrying his bottom lip and wondering what to do, Jesse decided on pocketing the note and leaving the dorm quickly.

His heart started speeding up as he neared Gabriel’s office, hoping the man was still in, even though he had no idea how to convince him to let him go. All he knew was that he could really use the hands-on practice this mission was sure to provide. He was practically itchy to show his merit and finally do something besides training. Gabriel simply had to let him go, he would find a way to convince him.

But as he knocked, he noticed the small digital display by the door showing Gabriel’s name also stated that he was trying to visit outside of office hours. Damnit, he’d have to come back tomorrow. Just when he turned around to get back to his room, an idea popped into his head.

_ I could try Gabriel’s dorm. _

No, that was a terrible idea. Never before had he been so bold, what kind of message would that give his commander, that he didn’t respect his privacy?

Temporarily frozen on the spot by uncertainty, Jesse fingered the note in his sweatpants pocket. Would Gabriel be asleep by this hour, or was he trying to relax? Either way Jesse would disturb him for sure. But it  _ could _ show him his dedication in the matter. 

Before he knew it his feet had carried him to Gabriel’s dorm room, his hand slightly shaking as it rose to knock on the door. His heart skipped a beat when nothing happened for a while, he was already planning on leaving, but then he heard the lock on the door click and the door swung open slowly.

Gabriel was wearing a black tank top and very tightly fitting boxers, nothing more. Jesse felt his mouth go dry at the sight, he had never seen the commander like that before. The outfit left nothing to the imagination, and Jesse’s face heated as he quickly glanced back at the man’s face.

Wordlessly, Gabriel took a step towards Jesse, whose eyes widened in surprise, but Gabriel only looked left and right to make sure no one had seen him come to his dorm at this late hour and pulled the youth inside by the arm.

“Is there a reason why you come to my fucking room  _ this late _ ?” Gabriel looked upset and immediately Jesse regretted his stupid idea, he shuffled his feet and looked at the ground while he scrunched the note in his fist.

“I’m sorry Sir, it’s just that I got this note from Commander Morrison that said I was to see you and I kinda forgot the time and you weren’t in your office so I thought I might as well…” His voice trailed off as he held out the note to Gabriel, who sighed and took it from him. As he unraveled the crumpled piece of paper, he side glanced Jesse rebukingly.

While the other was reading the note, Jesse used the opportunity to look around himself. The room was practically spartan, everything was clean and very minimalist, the only decor a few framed photos on the wall. He was intrigued to take a closer look at those but already Gabriel was looking up at him again from the note in his hands, folding it in its original shape.

“Jack.” Gabriel snickered to himself and crossed his arms in front of him, still holding the yellowish paper between two fingers, finally addressing Jesse again who felt pretty uncomfortable under that scrutinizing stare.

“I, uh… I should go and visit you in your office tomorrow, Sir. I’m sorry for disturbing you, have a good night.” He mumbled and was already moving towards the door again, but Gabriel’s voice halted him.

“Jesse, you already woke me, I’m not going to let you waste my time like this.” Gabriel said, but he didn’t sound angry at least. So Jesse turned back around and scratched the back of his neck; why was he so damn nervous? Maybe because Gabriel was standing in front of him in nothing but his underwear and they were both in his  _ fucking  _ bedroom. Yeah, that might have been it. His eyes looked anywhere but the commander, too afraid he might stare. Then he heard Gabriel exhale a small laugh.

“Do you need some liquid courage again?” The man asked in a teasing manner, obviously referring to the last time the two had shared a drink. 

Jesse’s head shot up at that and all the nervousness was forgotten as he took a step towards Gabriel, whose face fell a little at the youth’s expression of urgency.

“There is something I need to tell you.” Jesse began and told Gabriel about Lambert and how he had accused him of sleeping with Gabriel, which caused his cheeks to warm a bit, so he went right on how Lambert had found his Stetson hat and he knew that Jesse had had drinks with Gabriel. Obviously he had either seen the two making out that night or he was at least suspecting it.

Jesse watched how Gabriel turned away a little, put the note on a small table and wiped at his tired face.

“I was aware that Lambert was paying extra attention, but maybe I have been too careless.” He admitted, then sat down on his bed and leaned his elbows on his knees. “But don’t worry, I’ll take care of him.” There was something dark flickering over Gabriel’s face for just a second, then it was gone. It sent a shiver down Jesse’s spine, suddenly he was worried  _ for _ Lambert, when before he had been worried because of him.

“What would happen if word got out that you have...um relations to comrades?” The youth asked in a small voice, suddenly very interested in the carpet’s design.

“It depends.” Gabriel said after a sigh. “Technically, there are no rules prohibiting such things, but it can cause a landslide of shit, especially when subordinates are involved.” At that, they looked at each other, tension growing. Jesse wanted to ask more, but Gabriel got up from the bed again and went over to the small table, tapping Jack’s note with his forefinger.

“This is none of your concern however.” Gabriel dismissed the topic and went on. “What you should be focusing on right now is how you can convince me to let you go on that training mission, as Commander Morrison so rightfully pointed out.”

With a frown Jesse recalled their last meeting.

“I’m confused, thought we had that figured out the last time we uh,  _ met _ .”

Gabriel snorted. “As I remember it, you kind of dodged that particular issue.” 

He was right, but also Jesse had thought that it had been some kind of test and that he had passed it. Apparently not.

“Well, what do I have to do to prove that I’m ready then, Sir?” Jesse asked exasperatedly. The older man considered him for a moment, then he propped his hands on his hips.

“First of all, drop the Sir when we’re alone, alright?” Gabriel said softly, causing Jesse’s belly to warm and he nodded enthusiastically. “You still need to prove to me that you can make the right decisions, battles and missions are all about the right choices.” Gabriel came closer. “Make the correct choice tonight and I might let you go on that training mission.”

Dazed, Jesse stood in the middle of the room as Gabriel advanced towards him slowly, he felt attracted to him like iron to a magnet in that moment, could practically feel himself gravitating towards him, anticipation growing. Then he came to a stop, only inches between them while Jesse stared at the other’s defined collar bones and shoulders.

“I’m going to give you two options.” The man murmured as his hands came up to straighten Jesse’s shirt collar, causing the young man to look him in the eyes. Gabriel was so close, a finger brushed his neck fleetingly, he could feel the man’s warmth radiating through his own clothes, his eyelids fluttered as the warmth spread through his whole body.

“Option number one: you leave this room to go back in your bed and get some sleep.” Gabriel said while searching the other’s eyes. When he didn’t go on, Jesse cleared his throat and asked: “And option number two?” Came the almost whispered question. 

Gabriel’s voice pitched lower, huskier. “You spend the night with me.”

That was it, Jesse’s whole body went rigid and started sweating profusely as all the blood went straight to his face...and groin. Once again Gabriel had managed to back him into a corner he wasn’t sure he wanted out of. 

On the one hand Jesse was desperate to take things further with Gabriel, on the other he was uncertain if this was the right moment in time. Or the right circumstance. If he was being honest, it didn’t sit right with him, Gabriel suggesting this big step forward in their budding relationship over a career choice. It almost felt like he was pressuring Jesse into this and he didn’t like this feeling one bit. Say yes and go or say no and forget it. 

But would Gabriel really do that? Would he sneer and send him away if he told him no or would he laugh at him for being  _ easy  _ if he said yes, for being a  _ slut _ , eager to get his way for favors from his superior?

A tight knot formed in his gut and his throat, disappointment and anger warring with the affection for the man made Jesse nauseous. But he had made up his mind.

He set his jaw, then looked Gabriel straight in the eyes. “I’m gonna have to choose option one,” he said, his voice only slightly wavering. Immediately he expected an outburst or some other kind of negative reaction from Gabriel, but as he searched the other man’s face in front of him, there was just a brief flash of surprise, followed by a smile. When before Gabriel’s face had been concentrated, calculating, it was now open and warm. It chased away all the doubt and false assumptions instantaneously.

As realization dawned on him, Jesse blushed for a very different reason.

“You son of a bitch!” He exclaimed in indignation, but also relief as he punched Gabriel’s arm, who had started laughing and backed away from the assault. After laughing for a bit longer, Gabriel shook his head apologetically.

“You should have seen your face! God, I’m sorry Jesse, I couldn’t resist.” Gabriel admitted and wiped a tear from the corner of his eye as he sat down on his bed again. Jesse huffed and buried his hands in the pockets of his pants, trying to suppress the humiliation he felt.

“Hey, come here.” Gabriel said softly and patted the free spot on the bed next to him. Jesse felt inclined to leave him right then, but he was also  _ so happy _ that Gabriel was in fact not the kind of person he had momentarily assumed. So he went, grudgingly, to sit next to him.

“Look at me.” And Jesse did, under his lashes, his face still hot. The man laid his arm around his shoulder, slightly pressing him into his body and bringing their foreheads together. This was nice, Jesse thought and carefully placed his hand on Gabriel’s bare thigh, suppressing the urge to stroke it. They sat like this for a moment before Gabriel leaned back a little to properly look Jesse in the face, his expression serious again.

“I want you to know that  _ I  _ would never make you do anything you’re not ready for. Consider this prank the last of its kind.” 

Jesse nodded and kept Gabriel’s gaze, watching as the man looked to the side.

“Jack however…” He didn’t finish the sentence but Jesse’s eyes widened.

When Gabriel started laughing again, Jesse had had enough and shoved at Gabriel’s chest, toppling him over and following him down to punch the same spot on his arm he had hit earlier. 

“Ow!” Gabriel laughed and kept Jesse from hitting him again by taking hold of his wrist. Jesse hadn’t hit him hard, he was too thrilled by this playful side to Gabriel and already was laughing along. Still, he kept trying to free himself and hit the man again, egged on by the joy he felt at seeing him like this. He was simply beautiful with that smile and his laugh was like balm to his soul. Damn, he really was falling for him,  _ hard _ . Butterflies were threatening to burst from his belly as they both came to stop lying next to each other on the bed, a little out of breath. Gabriel’s arm was lying around his waist, fingers brushing his skin where Jesse’s shirt had ridden up and his head propped on his other hand, looking at him with a look that spoke of similar feelings.

“You made the right choice, by the way.” Gabriel suddenly interjected.

“Cause you’re bad in bed?” Jesse was still giddy with pent up energy and the new found familiarity with the man not to make a joke, and he grinned at him cockily. Gabriel’s eyes narrowed, his smile lopsided and Jesse could feel the hand on his side wander beneath his shirt, up his back to press him closer. He shivered in delight as their chests touched and he could feel hot breath on his neck after the man had leaned forward even more.

“Cuidado, cariño [ _ Careful, sweetie _ ]. Or do you want me to prove you wrong?” Gabriel purred in his ear, giving it a quick nip. A more intense shiver ran through Jesse at the words, the endearment sending all kinds of emotion through him until he thought he might burst. His free hand came up to lay his palm gently on Gabriel’s cheek, already he was on his way to kiss him, and Gabriel let him. But only briefly, the older man broke the contact and watched Jesse’s flushed face as the boy licked his lips.

“Dios mio [ _ My god _ ], you’re testing me tonight, Jessito.” Gabriel ground out as his thumb traced the boy’s wet lips. “Let me finish what I was saying. Your choice showed me that you respect yourself, and me as well, enough to decline an offer we both know you were  _ desperate  _ to accept.” He stated with a condescending smirk, but this time Jesse knew it was just a jab at him and he smirked back, chasing Gabriel’s finger with his teeth.

“Right, as if you hadn’t hoped I’d accept so you can finally get a piece of  _ this _ .” Jesse motioned down himself with a wink, making Gabriel hum in consideration, his smile never wavering.

“Which reminds me, you need more protein in your diet.”

Jesse blinked at him.

“You punched me like a little kitten just now, you need more muscle mass.” Gabriel finished and squeezed Jesse’s biceps experimentally. Affronted, Jesse flexed his arm to prove to Gabriel that he was stronger than the man thought. All it earned him was a chuckle, then a pinch to his cheek. 

“How dare you,” Jesse exclaimed in mock abhorrence and surged forward to wrestle Gabriel on his back, who obviously let him because under normal circumstances Jesse would never have been able to. He ended up sitting on Gabriel’s lower stomach. 

“Ha! You’re getting awfully cocky, Jessie.” The man laughed and laid his big, warm hands onto Jesse’s thighs now that the youth was straddling him. “I wonder how much of that bravado is just talk?” He challenged while sliding his hands behind to grab Jesse’s ass and thrust his hips upwards. 

Jesse gave an audible gasp and his hands fisted in the tank top the man was wearing, there was no denying that their little rough and tumble had excited Gabriel, he could feel him through the few layers of clothes. Heat bloomed in his abdomen at the thought of what lay beneath those tight boxers he was wearing, eyes drooping with lust.

They were looking at each other, Gabriel waiting for Jesse’s reaction. Then, without further ado Jesse bent down and kissed Gabriel in the filthiest way, sloppy wet tongue sliding inside the willing mouth, savouring Gabriel’s small sound of pleasure. He was ready,  _ god _ was he ready for this, he ground against the firm body beneath him, felt the man squeeze his butt more firmly and pressing their groins together. Their kiss went on, Jesse almost delirious with want and lust, his hips had started undulating against Gabriel, his dick trapped in his pants straining against its confines. 

When one of Gabriel’s hands slid forward and brushed his erection, Jesse pulled back from kissing him. 

“Gabriel…” He murmured, eyes closed in bliss at the contact. 

“Yes.” Gabriel almost hissed and grabbed the back of Jesse’s head to pull him down again, talking to him between kisses. “Love it—” A kiss. “—when you say—” A nip at Jesse’s lips, who whined in pleasure. “—my name like this.” Gabriel finished and slipped his hand up Jesse’s length to get a firmer grip on it. The young man moaned and pressed his hips forward to give better access. Gabriel didn’t need more affirmation, he propped himself up into a sitting position, both now upright, seeking to kiss Jesse again, who opened up enthusiastically, then his hand went to the waistband of Jesse’s pants and let his fingers brush his skin there, slowly pushing beneath and inside to find the youth’s aching member and wrap his hand around it. 

“Ah!” Jesse couldn’t help it, the feeling of Gabriel’s hand on his dick was heaven, his arms snaked around the other’s shoulders to hold on for dear life as Gabriel started a slow rhythm on him, up and down, pushing the pants and underwear underneath his balls and out of the way, finally freeing him. 

Jesse shuddered in pleasure, mouthing at Gabriel’s lips and then throwing his head back in ecstasy as he was being stroked expertly. Gabriel’s hot mouth latched onto his neck, nuzzling that spot that made him putty in the man’s hands. 

“Ga—” Jesse’s voice failed him and he tried again. “Gabriel.” He gasped, then heard and felt the response in a groan from Gabriel and how the hand on him sped up its ministrations. 

He had no chance in lasting much longer, he was too far gone, too overwhelmed by what was happening that he could only ride that wave that was rolling over him. With a whine he came all over himself and Gabriel, who held him through his orgasm and slowed down his stroking. After his hips had stopped jerking in the last aftershocks of release, Jesse collapsed into Gabriel who lowered them both down gently onto the bed. 

A warm hand brushed the hair out of his face, then he was tucked back inside his pants, messy as he was. 

“What are you doing?” Jesse asked groggily, already on his way to sit up, but the same warm hands stopped him from doing so. Was this over already?

“Just enjoy the afterglow, Jessito.” Gabriel laughed softly. Jesse touched the other’s still straining erection. 

“What about you?” He asked, but Gabriel moved out of reach, still smiling. 

“I’ll be fine. You should go now, though. It’s late and we don’t want anyone wondering where you are.” He concluded and moved off the bed, stretching his hand out towards Jesse in invitation. Reluctantly, Jesse took it and was raised upward, the world momentarily spinning. 

“Hey, take it easy.” Gabriel snickered and steadied Jesse with his hands on his forearms. “You alright or should I escort you to your room?” He joked, but Jesse slapped his hands away halfheartedly, squaring his shoulders and diving in one last time to give him a peck on the cheek. 

Surprised, Gabriel raised an eyebrow at him, immediately Jesse’s face colored again. 

“Thank you for…tonight.” Jesse mumbled, eyeing Gabriel’s half erect cock, then his gaze traveled upwards to the dark discoloration on his shirt, the proof of Jesse’s lust. The man’s gaze followed his and he tsked before grabbing the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head, leaving Jesse to salivate over his toned abs and bulging pectorals. 

“Ok, we get it, you’re hot.” Jesse half joked but couldn’t keep the trembling out of his voice. Gabriel simply was a sight to behold, he felt himself grow hard again already. The sheer power his body contained made him weak in the knees. 

Gabriel tossed the shirt aside and beckoned for Jesse to come closer, which he did. When he reached him, Gabriel’s hands went in his hair and he pulled him close gently, but not yet doing anything else. 

“You did well today, Jesse.” He said, affection in his eyes, watching how his words affected the youth in his arms. It felt like someone flipped a switch again and Jesse was ready to go to his knees and beg to suck the man in front of him off anyway, to worship him however he could. But he couldn’t, the hand in his hair prevented him from doing so much as nod his head, his lips parted to say something, but already they were locked with Gabriel’s again, while his scalp was stroked and another hand wound down to his lower back, caressing and squeezing. 

Apparently Gabriel was determined to make him hard again before he left, Jesse’s dick was definitely interested. Damn him. 

Gabriel pulled away and finally released Jesse, his palm brushing the youth’s cheek before he stepped away. Jesse tried his best to not appear so damn affected by all this, but he knew he must have failed because when Gabriel went to open the door for him, he saw him smile in that knowing way of his. He sighed and adjusted himself inside his sticky pants to cross the threshold. 

“Don’t be late for training tomorrow.” Gabriel reminded him, his arm leaning against the doorframe when Jesse was outside. 

Jesse stifled a yawn. 

“And don’t forget to report to Commander Morrison tomorrow for the training mission sign-up.” Gabriel finished with a wink and closed the door in Jesse’s face.

  
Right, there had been a reason for his visit besides Jesse’s  _ thirst  _ for his commander. His cheeks colored again at the reminder of what had just happened and he looked down himself at the wet patch inside his pants. Damnit, he should hurry back to his room to avoid any questions. He couldn’t erase the goofy smile on his face though. 


	10. Chapter 10

Getting up the next morning was easier than Jesse had anticipated, he felt energized and well rested. Probably because he hadn’t been jacked off that nicely in a while, he pondered and fondly recalled last night. A smile rose on his cheeks again. 

“What has you smirking like that?” Jannik asked him between brushing his teeth. 

“Oh, it’s nothing.” Jesse sidestepped the question, he didn’t feel like sharing something that intimate with his roommate at the moment, not right after he had woken up. 

“I bet it’s got something to do with you staying out late.” Jannik said and rose an eyebrow after spitting toothpaste into the sink. But Jesse only shrugged and pushed him out of the way to take the spot in front of the mirror and washed his face. “Alright, alright. Don’t tell me then.” Jannik exclaimed and left the small bathroom. Jesse knew that Jannik wouldn’t push the issue and he was grateful for that, of course he would tell him in due time. It just wasn’t the time yet, it was all so new and it still felt like a dream to him, one he was afraid he might wake up from one day.

As he was entering the gymnasium, his gaze instantly fell on Gabriel, who was standing to the far off side with—

“Jack?” Jesse blurted out and went to cover his mouth immediately. Frightened someone might have heard, he looked around but no one paid him any mind, they were too busy stretching and warming up. Relieved, Jesse went to join the others, but as he cast a last look towards Gabriel and Jack, he saw them both glancing at him, then Gabriel waved him over. 

He could feel his nerves build up the nearer he came, finally halting in front of them at an appropriate distance and saluting briefly. 

There was a gleam in Gabriel’s eyes, Jesse’s cheeks warmed in memory as he stood at attention. 

“At ease.” Jack said and smiled at Jesse warmly. “I heard that Commander Reyes finally approved your participation in the upcoming training mission.” Jesse’s eyes darted between the two commanders and he had to suppress a smile of his own. 

“Yes, I am glad that I was able to convince him, Sir.” He had to say it while looking Gabriel straight in the eye, the man’s lip curled slightly at that. 

“Now that that’s settled, follow me recruit.” Jack stated and already turned around to leave, Jesse at a loss for what to do, what about training? He raised a questioning eyebrow at Gabriel, who dismissed him with a head gesture. Quickly, he caught up to Morrison, wondering where he was taking them. 

After a short walk they entered the armory, Jesse’s mouth went slack at the sight of all the high-tech equipment that was on display on the walls, as well as behind glass or inside rows of lockers. What he wouldn’t give to spend a day in here and test it all out, already his hands were reaching for a nearby bulletproof vest, but Jack’s authoritative voice stopped him. 

“We need to get you equipped for the mission.” Jack said and opened a few lockers, taking stuff out of them and piling it on top of a glass vitrine in the middle of the room. Among it was an entire outfit, complete in black and reinforced for battle, then he laid down gloves and heavy boots. The last item he placed right on top of the black clothes was a silvery shimmering pistol, his  _ Peacekeeper _ .

Raising his eyes at Jack, as if he couldn’t believe what he saw, Jesse went forward and picked up the six shooter, checking every side and angle. Pure joy overcame him at finally holding it in his hands again, Jack smiled with him and went over to the display to explain every item he’d put out for him. But Jesse could only listen with one ear, his pistol was finally back in his possession, what a day this turned out to be and it was only morning. 

Spinning the gun in his right hand, he tested its weight and found that it was the same as usual, the movements still ingrained in his brain from years of usage. A grin spread across his face, he finally felt whole again. He really wanted to thank Jack and hug him til he couldn’t breathe, but the man was still talking and Jesse quickly laid down the gun and listened to what he was saying.

When Jack was finished, Jesse went to pick up the whole ensemble, but a raised finger halted him. 

“There is something else.” The man said ominously and produced a bag from somewhere beside him. Inside was a dress shirt, pants and a really expensive looking jacket, along with leather shoes and a tie. Raising an inquisitive stare at his superior, Jack practically beamed at him. 

“I would like to take you with me to a small soirée tonight. There will be a few higher-ups I’d like you to meet who are very interested in the newest Blackwatch recruit we picked up from Deadlock Gorge.” Jack explained. Jesse was still trying to figure out what a soirée was, but meeting very important people instilled a sense of dread inside him. He simply didn’t belong to fancy gatherings, whatever they were. With his southern accent and almost non-existent manners it was bound to become an embarrassment. But the expectant way Jack was looking at him made it impossible to refuse. Also, Jesse wanted to please Jack, he found, and already nodded his assent before his mouth could object. 

“Excellent! Please wear this and be ready by seven. We will meet at the hangar.” Jack said and gathered all the things he’d laid out for the youth in the bag he had with him and handed it over. 

“Alright, thanks.” Jesse mumbled awkwardly and followed Jack outside of the armory. Oh boy, what he had agreed to? Realization hit him hard, he was going to meet exceptionally important military people and if he made a fool of himself it would not only affect their opinion of him, but that of Jack as well, he was sure. So how would he manage to become a gentleman in twelve hours? Watching Jack wave at him as he left for his office, Jesse made a beeline to his room where he stowed away all his new gear except for  _ Peacekeeper _ . 

“Hello, beautiful.” He whispered and reverently stroked the muzzle, opening the barrel to see that it wasn’t loaded. Even though he had expected it, he was still disappointed.  _ Nevermind _ , he thought and flicked it closed again, then added it to the other things he had gotten earlier. It was time to get decent for this  _ soirée _ , so he went into the bathroom to groom himself a little. His beard had grown out of shape in places and his hair had now long passed his shoulders. As he scrutinized himself some more he came to the conclusion that it was time to find the base’s barber.

* * *

 

When next he looked in the mirror, it was at the soirée, in the foyer of a  _ very _ nice hotel. He was wearing the outfit that Jack had given him and even though he almost didn’t recognize himself, he had to admit that he didn’t look as out of place as he felt. As if on its own, his hand wandered to his face to stroke his nicely trimmed beard. His hair now barely reached his ears and he was still amazed at how different it made him appear, somehow more grown-up. Jack had beamed at him when he had seen him arrive at the hangar that night, telling him how handsome he looked and that he liked his haircut.

Jack himself though...he wore a dark suit as well, accentuating his blonde hair which was styled in its usual perfect way. To make it short: he looked like a million bucks. Jesse had had to suppress his need to shower him in praise, but nothing he could have said would have done him justice anyways. 

The only thing Jack had criticized was the lack of a tie around Jesse’s neck. But how was he supposed to know how to tie it? It hadn’t deterred Jack, however and together they had entered a black limousine waiting for them a few feet away, engine rolling.

On their way to the small party, they had had a little bit of time to talk, Jesse recalled as he was making his way through the small crowd next to his commander, who greeted several people politely and shook their hands. 

“So what’s yours and Gabriel’s story?” Jesse had asked after a few minutes into their trip. Jack had given him a surprised look in return, he had not expected that question. 

“Gabe and I, we go way back.” Jack had explained and his eyes had lost focus as he had recalled their time together before Overwatch. And so Jesse had learned about the SEP, a program transforming Jack and Gabriel into super soldiers. 

“Wow, so you have super powers? Can you see through walls? I bet you can pick me up with one arm!” Jesse had ranted enthusiastically, making Jack laugh in response. The older man had leaned in at that, their arms and shoulders touching. 

“I can’t see through walls but I can hold you with one arm  _ and _ do other things while doing so.” He had said while giving Jesse a look that spoke volumes about  _ the things he could do _ . “If you’d want me to that is.” He had added and Jesse had suddenly felt quite warm in his borrowed suit. 

“M—Maybe you shouldn’t get me all hot and bothered before we get to this meeting.” Jesse had laughed while squirming in his seat. “Don’t want to look like a mess in front of all these important people.”

Jack had backed away at that with a smirk. “You’re right, of course. Wouldn’t want to soil that nice suit.” He had said as he had turned his gaze towards the window, idly adjusting his lapel.

They were currently standing amidst a small gathering of four people, including them. A man who had been introduced to him as Mr. Trout was speaking animatedly to Jack, who appeared to be only listening and nodding out of politeness.  _ Poor Jack _ , Jesse thought. How often did he have to go to these gatherings and listen to this boring shit? Only once had Trout acknowledged Jesse’s presence, when he had greeted him. After that Jesse might as well have been a potted plant the man could have used to dispose of his drink. The vibe he got from him was unpleasant at best, his narrowed eyes were sunken and the corners of his mouth in a permanent frown. Still, the way he talked to Jack spoke of fascination and dedication, whatever his topic was, Jesse couldn’t find the motivation to actually listen.

So instead he let his eyes roam the foyer instead. A high ceiling and brightly painted walls adorned with subtle decor were supposed to represent grandeur he guessed. But to him it only screamed pretentious and uptight, he had never enjoyed such places, or the people it attracted. 

“I’m sure it will all make sense soon,” Jack laid a placating hand on the man’s shoulder while looking at someone else across the room. Trout made a sound of indignation. “Excuse us, please.” Jack smiled and pulled Jesse away. 

“Finally…” Jesse mumbled and Jack’s hand on his shoulder squeezed him fleetingly, their eyes met and Jesse saw Jack trying to hide a grin. With Jack’s hand lingering in place, they reached a tall woman in a tailored suit with more stars on her jacket than Jesse was able to count at first glance. 

“Commander Morrison!” She greeted Jack, smiling in a friendly manner. Then her eyes fell on Jesse and they practically lit up. “Oh, this must be your newest recruit then?” She reached for Jesse’s hand and he shook it confidently, her handshake was firm and went precisely once up and down. 

“McCree, this is General Ahlström.” Jack introduced her to him and Jesse smiled back at her.

The general demanded to know everything about the kid Jack had practically picked up off the streets and had transformed into a respectable recruit. She made it sound like Jesse had been rescued and if he thought about it, it wasn’t actually that far from the truth. 

“I like to think that he is finally able to show his true potential with us, under Commander Reyes’ guidance.” Jack glanced at Jesse. “He is doing very well and shows a lot of will and dedication to improve every day.” Jesse blushed a little at his commander’s display of approval. Another squeeze to his shoulder, a sly grin on his commander’s face. “I’d even go so far and say that he can rival Amari in the shooting range.”

General Ahlström’s mouth formed into a small “o” at that last statement, while Jesse felt his whole body go flush at Jack’s praise. It was music to his ears, but difficult to keep his nonchalant façade. Aside from his pink ears he managed to keep his cool, though. Ana Amari was the base’s best sniper, Jesse felt honored that Jack thought him to be that good. His eyes met Jack’s and he saw how he regarded him with a knowing smile.    


“Well, consider me impressed, Commander.” Ahlström gave Jesse a last appraising look before saying goodbye. They were left standing there next to the hallway, then Jesse felt Jack grab his forearm. He was pulled out of the room into the hallway, where Jack led them upstairs to the guest rooms. There they went down several doors until they stopped at one with the number five on it, Jack didn’t even use a keycard or anything to open it, it simply swung inside when he turned the handle. Jesse wondered if Jack planned on staying the night, this was apparently his room, although nothing inside spoke of it being in use at the moment. 

“So,” Jesse began as he leaned against the wall next to a fancy wooden dresser and watched Jack move about the room. “Rival Amari, huh?” A grin stretched across his face as Jack stopped and loosened his tie with a smile of his own.

“She needed to hear it.” Jack said and tossed his tie on the queen sized bed, then he opened the buttons of his jacket. “Ahlström is in part responsible for you being here, Deadlock Gorge had been a thorn in her side for years. Besides, I wasn’t lying.” Jesse stood a little straighter. Had he meant what he had said? “I’ve watched you shoot after all.” The man came a little closer, Jesse’s eyes drawn to the newly revealed white dress shirt underneath the dark jacket which swayed slightly with Jack’s movements. “Yes, I do think you can rival Amari; Hell, in a duel you could probably shoot  _ me _ first.” He said while he pressed two fingers into Jesse’s chest like he was pointing a gun at him, right where his heart was.

The atmosphere in the room changed, but before Jesse could do anything, Jack turned away from him to lay his jacket over the thick upholstery of a lush armchair. 

“Tell me something.” Jack mused as he stopped next to the armchair and started rolling up his sleeves. Jesse swallowed nervously, this felt almost like an interview. “In all the time you’ve been with us, never once have I asked you how you like it; Being in Blackwatch.”

That was true, but Jesse never assumed anyone to be interested in knowing how he felt. At least not until recently. 

“I think it’s safe to say that it’s the best thing to ever happen to me.” Jesse said, secretly wondering why he asked him this now. Jack smiled at that and pushed the heavy chair towards the bed before taking a seat. He motioned for Jesse to sit on the bed in front of him and Jesse moved without thinking so they sat face to face. 

“That is great to hear.” Jack said and laid his arms on the armrests. “I guess your life has been a difficult one so far?” The sincere interest in his eyes made Jesse stop and think for a second. 

“Well,” Jesse looked off to the side. “It used to be. But not anymore.” Raising his gaze at Jack once more, Jesse felt emotion bubble up inside of him. “I find that I like getting up in the morning now, without having to worry about where the next meal is gonna come from, or if I’ll have to shoot someone for it.” His hand on the bed blindly found Jack’s tie and pulled it into his lap, fiddling with the silky material. “There are so many people in my life now, whom I consider actual friends and I don’t have to worry about them slitting my throat while I sleep.” His voice grew quieter, as he watched his hands play with the tie. “I am... _ ashamed _ of my past now. Of the things I’ve done, and I am ashamed that I haven’t even properly thanked you for giving me this opportunity. For your kindness.” Even though his throat had started closing up at the end of his monologue, Jesse managed to keep his voice from wavering. 

Jack said nothing, but Jesse knew it was only because he was waiting to see if there was more he wanted to get off his chest. He wound the tie around his left hand like a bandage, still not looking up. 

“I actually consider myself lucky these days. Before, I thought my life was pretty decent, cause you know I got to shoot stuff, not many questions asked.” He formed a fist with the tie. “But now that I know what life can actually be like, I see how  stupid I was.” He was forlorn in thought, idly testing the silk’s stretch. 

“Why did you join the gang in the first place?” Jack suddenly asked, startling Jesse out of his thoughts. 

So Jesse told Jack his life story, how he had lived most of his childhood with his grandma, how they had struggled to make ends meet and his foolish choice to join the Deadlock gang, thinking he had finally found his purpose in life while simultaneously helping out his grandma. 

“But she wasn’t so easily blinded by their promises, she knew who and what they were and told me to come back only once I’d gotten my head out of my ass. I resented her for it…” He trailed off, the tie lying in a crumpled heap in his lap. It remained quiet in the room, the only sound was a clock on the wall.

“Thank you.” Jack’s deep voice broke through the silence, both finally looking at each other again. Jesse felt like he should feel self-conscious about revealing so much about himself, but he was oddly calm, happy even, that all this was out. That Jack knew him for who he was, even though he probably already had all the information about him there was from reports. 

Jesse huffed a laugh. “No, I really should be thanking  _ you _ .” And again his throat seized up with emotion, his whole body tense with uncertainty of what to do, but desperately wanting to do  _ something _ . In the end he stayed in is spot on the bed.

“It was my pleasure, Jesse.” Jack said with a smile and Jesse joined in, his cheeks becoming pink. Jack really was an exceptional person, Jesse thought. So far he had been nothing but supportive of him, giving him the benefit of the doubt in recruiting him and then taking care of Jesse whenever he could, even signing him up for that training mission. It made him wonder why he took all of this on himself. 

“Why did you do it?” When Jack only frowned, Jesse went on. “Why did you recruit me?”

Jack’s smile widened at that and he crossed one leg over the other. “I could tell you now that after reading your file and knowing you to be an exceptional shot I wanted you on my team.” The man said. “But honestly? The minute I saw you sitting in that chair with handcuffs and that torn leather jacket I knew you to be special.”

Jesse flushed beet red. 

“I saw that fire in you, to me you were a diamond in the rough. And I thought to myself: that boy deserves a second chance at life, he shouldn’t have to suffer because of one bad decision.”

The youth couldn’t speak even if he had wanted to. Then Jack uncrossed his legs and bent forward, seeking Jesse’s eyes with his. When they finally met, Jesse saw that glint in them. 

“Also, you were too cute to go to jail.” Jack deadpanned and winked at him, in response Jesse barked a laugh and sat a little straighter. 

“Don’t be cheesy now!” Jesse exclaimed and threw the tie at the man, who caught it with a laugh. And again Jesse felt himself blush at the man’s words, it never seemed to stop with him. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re flattering me to get in my pants.”

Jack snickered. “Well, is it working?”

With a finger tracing his beard Jesse pretended to think about it. “You’ll have to do better, I’m afraid.” He concluded and gave the man a challenging look. “But keep going.”

“Oh.” Jack smiled mischievously. “What if I told you that I invited you here so I could show you off.” His eyes drooping, Jack leaned his head on his hand. “That I wanted everyone here to see you, not only because you are an amazing recruit—” Jesse swallowed. “—but also because of your  _ other _ assets.” With that he let his gaze roam over Jesse’s body, who suddenly felt warmer than before, his brown eyes held by intense blue ones.

Jesse tried to laugh it off, but the way Jack was peering at him from under his lashes made the sound die in his throat. He was being serious.

Throwing his arms up in defeat, Jesse smiled. “Ok, you win! Jesus, you’re too good at this.” He said and leaned back on his hands, relaxing his legs just a tiny amount but the small gesture immediately caught Jack’s attention, who was still reclining comfortably in his arm chair, the only reaction a sly smile on his lips.

That was… anticlimactic. He had assumed his invitation had been obvious, Jack should’ve already been on the bed with him, his tongue in Jesse’s mouth. But he wasn’t. Maybe he hadn’t been clear enough. Before he could do something though, Jack sat up straight, his hand reaching out towards Jesse. 

Without hesitation, Jesse grabbed it with his own and he was being pulled up from the bed into Jack’s lap, straddling the man’s thighs. The sly smile never left Jack’s lips, who laid down his arms on the armrests once more. Now Jesse felt a little unsure of what to do, wasn’t there supposed to be touching involved somewhere? Hadn’t Jack just talked about Jesse’s  _ assets _ ? So why wasn’t he touching him?

Jesse’s uncertainty must have shown on his face because Jack’s expression turned serious. 

“Before we go any further, I would like us to talk.” He said gently, one hand coming up to brush through Jesse’s short hair, a fond smile on his handsome face. 

“Ugh, no more talking…” Jesse complained, but sat back to properly look Jack in the face, who snickered at Jesse’s gripe. 

“If we’re doing this, I want us to be on the same page.” Jack said, idly tracing Jesse’s ear with a finger. “You can say stop whenever you feel the need to, alright?” Frowning, Jesse searched Jack’s face for traces of a joke, but he seemed to be serious. Wondering why he should feel the need to stop anything between them, he shrugged and agreed. It had never felt to him like Jack would go beyond Jesse’s comfort zone in the first place, but he guessed the man wanted to make him feel secure.

“Good. Let’s take this slow then.” Jack smiled and let his hand wander to gently grip Jesse’s chin. “Now tell me what you want, Jesse.” He had said it with such fire that Jesse was momentarily taken aback with the intensity of it. He thought hard of what he should answer, what he wanted in exactly this moment. All his thoughts coalesced into one thing: Jack. 

“I want you _. _ ” Jesse moaned and surged forward to claim the man’s lips. The youth kissed him with passion and urgency, while Jack let himself be pushed into the high-backed armchair, enjoying Jesse’s ‘assault’ on him with an appreciative hum. Hands wandered into Jack’s short hair and behind his neck to pull him as close as possible, the man’s own hands finding Jesse’s thighs and squeezing them. When Jesse pulled away again, he started fiddling with the buttons of Jack’s dress shirt, finally wanting some skin to touch. Jack watched him open one button after the other, his hands sliding up and down Jesse’s legs, until Jesse was finished and his hands started exploring the muscled chest before him. Jack closed his eyes in pleasure when Jesse bent his head and started kissing him there as well.

The smell of Jack’s cologne and his skin up close sent feelings of want and lust through Jesse, he moaned when his lips found a nipple and let his tongue slide over it, tasting the man in front of him.

“Jesse.” It sounded like a warning, but it spurred him on even more, his lips sucking and his tongue wetting every inch of skin he could reach while his hands pushed the fabric of the man’s shirt out of the way. Lips traveling upwards, over Jack’s collarbone and neck, Jesse reached his face again and kissed him hungrily, Jack finally reciprocating. Their tongues entwined, hands pulling so their chests touched and arms entangled, they held onto each other in an intimate embrace.

Jesse pulled back, his lips puffy and wet, then he let his hand move downwards to the tent in Jack’s pants, feeling for his dick. 

“Jesse.” Another unmistakable warning. The look he received from Jack was almost dangerous, narrowed eyes with pupils blown wide, his hands digging into Jesse’s thighs almost painfully. Jesse’s grip faltered. He had never seen Jack like this before, he was sin incarnate at this moment and it aroused him to no end. He didn’t want to take it slow. Maybe if he pushed him a little more? He suddenly felt the urge to find out what happened if Jack stopped holding himself back as he apparently did.

So his hand wrapped around Jack once more, he saw a muscle jump in the man’s jaw, then Jack’s hands closed around Jesse’s, stopping all movement. 

“Does this excite you,” Jack leaned in with a smile and murmured. “Ignoring my warnings like that?” His mouth found Jesse’s ear. “Are you eager to find out what happens when I’ve had enough?” A nip to Jesse’s earlobe and the youth gasped, trembling with arousal. Oh wow, this was… hot as hell. He felt his belly do anxious backflips,  _ god _ he wanted to find out. Just imagining Jack doing things to him, with his powerful body, made Jesse moan in response. He didn’t have to wait long, Jack gripped his ass and pulled him close, then he pushed up and away from the armchair with Jesse in his lap, shoving the youth down onto the bed and following closely behind, still between the spread thighs, already covering the youth’s body with his. 

“Jack.” Jesse gasped when the man grabbed both of his hands and held them above his head in one of his. Oh, but he was strong, Jesse wriggled his arms a bit to test the grip, but he couldn’t move them an inch. There was a gleam in Jack’s eyes, a delighted shiver ran through Jesse. 

“Super soldier, remember?” The man winked at him and pushed his hand further up so Jesse’s arms were raised even higher above him, creating a pleasant stretch in his muscles. Using his new position atop the youth, Jack brought his free hand up and brushed it over Jesse’s still clothed front slowly, lovingly. Heart beating wildly in his chest, Jesse focused on those fingers tracing his body, saw how they traveled lower until they latched onto his belt and opened it. Reflexively, he raised his eyes and met Jack’s intense stare. Suddenly the man’s hand stopped what it was doing, the expression on his face softening. 

“Tell me you want this.” Jack whispered and stroked Jesse’s wrists between his hand with a thumb, giving Jesse all the time in the world to answer while he searched his face. But Jesse didn’t need much time. 

“Fuck,  _ yes _ .” Jesse answered and arched his back to get Jack’s hand moving again. And move it did, with quick efficiency it popped the button to the fancy dress pants, pulled the zipper and freed Jesse’s dick from his underwear as well. A sigh escaped him when Jack’s warm hand took a firm hold of his erection. It moved up and down steadily, applying just the right amount of pressure that Jesse thought he might come right then and there. Wanting to prolong it all he tried to wriggle out of Jack’s grasp but there was no budging. 

“What is it?” Jack asked him as he was nuzzling his neck, making it even harder for Jesse to concentrate. 

“Want to—” Jesse moaned in ecstasy when Jack found just the spot on his neck, but he really wanted to tell him to wait a bit. “—feel you.” He managed to finish and searched Jack’s lips with his. They kissed and Jack’s hand momentarily disappeared from Jesse’s weeping dick. From seemingly far away he could hear as Jack was opening another belt and zipper, but the way he kissed him was too damn good to pay attention to anything else.

“That can be arranged.” Jack said a little out of breath after he finally pulled away and when Jesse looked down he saw Jack’s own dick standing at attention from his pants. Biting his lip at the sight, Jesse wanted to reach out and touch him, to reciprocate, but his hands were still secured above him. He whined in distress as he watched Jack take a hold of his own dick and started stroking it a little, how he wanted to touch and feel him at this moment.

Gabriel hadn’t let him touch him either, he remembered. What was it with these men and not letting him show his affection in this way? It was unfair. 

“Jack, please.” Jesse moaned as he raised his hips futilely to get into contact with the man above him who seemed to be content in stroking himself. “I want to feel you.” It was his last attempt but it seemed to work. Jack lowered himself on top of him, their dicks coming into contact and his big, warm hand wrapped around them both, he groaned in pleasure. The sight alone was almost enough to tip Jesse over the edge. It was such a filthy scene, the both of them still in their fine ass suits, only their dicks freed and pumped by this amazingly gorgeous man above him. It felt simply amazing, the other’s hot erection against his own, how the man could almost fit them both inside his calloused hand and the friction was simply perfect.

And then Jack went and sealed the deal when he bent down to kiss Jesse senseless. The hand on them both sped up and Jesse almost sobbed when he came, spurting his seed over his borrowed dress shirt. Jack followed closely after, with a groan he added to the wet mess on Jesse’s shirt, holding them both inside his palm and squeezing out the last drops of their release. 

After a few seconds of just laying and panting, Jesse opened his eyes again to see Jack move away and release his hands. He watched as the man moved into the small attached bathroom and reemerged with a wet towel. Already his clothes were buttoned up again and his pants secured with the belt. As he reached Jesse on the bed, he sat down next to him and gently wiped him off, a small smile on his lips. 

“We made quite the mess.” Jack chuckled as he tried to remove the cum on Jesse’s shirt. There was a pretty large stain on it, but he was confident it would be possible to hide it behind his jacket. Once Jack was finished, Jesse zipped up his pants again and went off of the bed to smooth out the wrinkles in his suit. 

“Yeah, on  _ me _ .” Jesse quipped. “Maybe we should get undressed next time.” He proposed as he pulled down one of the sleeves that had ridden up when his arms had been extended over his head. 

“I’ll be sure to remember that.” Jack must have snuck up on him, because his hands suddenly snaked around from behind him to pull him in an embrace and nuzzled his neck again. He sighed. “You are…” The man trailed off, then Jesse was whirled around to look at him once more. “...quite breathtaking when in the throes of passion, Jesse.” Jack murmured and guided their mouths together. 

When they parted again, Jesse laughed a little. “And you’re so  _ lyrical _ . I love that.” He smiled and cupped Jack’s face in his hand, their eyes met and in this moment he knew that he loved a lot about Jack, especially his kindness, how safe he made Jesse feel. Also, he could get lost in those blue eyes. 

...

Maybe he was  _ in love _ ?

Quickly, he retracted his hand and used it to brush through his own hair. Those were...dangerous thoughts, he had no idea how serious Jack was about this  _ thing _ , whatever it was. And better not to ruin it by involving strong words and feelings like this.

Also, there was Gabriel. If he was being honest this whole situation was a little confusing. So far they hadn’t really talked about it, instead Jesse had only acted on his primal instincts and on his lust like a darn teenager. Took what he could because he was craving their attention. 

Just when he was about to say something, Jack turned away and put on his jacket. Well, maybe it was best to address the issue with the both of them present. When he was dressed again, Jack held up his crumpled tie. 

“You ruined my tie.” He observed while shaking his head, then stuffed it in his pocket.

“Sorry.” Jesse mumbled and blushed, he hadn’t done it on purpose, all the scrunching had been subconscious.

Jack laughed heartily and beckoned for Jesse to follow him out of the room. “It’s fine. You can buy me a new one.” He chuckled and closed the door behind them. 

“Hey, I can’t afford a silk tie!” Jesse exclaimed. “Or fancy hotel rooms like you.” 

Jack frowned. “Oh, that wasn’t my room.” He explained and moved down a set of stairs. Jesse looked after him in disbelief. What if someone had walked in on them? In the hotel currently full of military people who were very familiar with Jack. Smiling despite himself, Jesse jogged to catch up to Jack, that wasn’t the first surprise from him today. As he remembered how Jack’s demeanor had changed in the middle of what they had been doing, his face grew warm. Jack had been so  _ dominant _ , it had not only surprised Jesse but he had also found that he liked this side to him, that he liked being ‘at his mercy’. 

_ Guess I also learned something new about myself _ , he thought and heaved a pleased sigh.

Time to act like nothing happened to this room full of strangers. 


	11. Chapter 11

“Listen up.” Gabriel sat before the small team on the transport with his arms crossed, a serious expression on his face. “This might be a training mission, but it  _ is _ a mission. One you will see through until the end. I want you to give it your all, a hundred and ten percent.” His gaze went over all of their faces, and finally landed on Jesse, who sat with rapt attention and was trying to absorb every single word that came out of the Commander’s mouth. 

The briefing was coming to an end, he could feel it, the atmosphere in the van had become charged with adrenaline, everyone was restless and eager to do their job. They were going to escort a shipment of weapons, Gabriel had told them. The irony of it wasn’t lost on Jesse. Only a few months ago Jesse would have been on the other team, part of a Deadlock gang raid on said weapons shipment. He tried to push down any doubts he had on succeeding on this mission, this was his chance to show Gabriel and Jack that their trust in him wasn’t misplaced. Just thinking about their smiles and words of praise after the successful mission made him giddy with anticipation, he couldn’t wait to prove himself. There hadn’t been much criminal activity in this area in these last few years, Gabriel had told them. So this was not a priority A mission requiring their elite agents. 

“Alright. Good luck, recruits.” Gabriel finished and opened the door for them to exit. One after the other filed out into the Spanish setting sun. It was a beautiful sight, one Jesse would never forget, but he had to concentrate. Just a few meters ahead was the heavily armored freight train with the precious cargo they were to escort safely to the next station in Cádiz. Swallowing down his nerves, Jesse told himself that at least four of the other recruits had attended a few training missions already, they knew what to do.

Speaking of which, two of those recruits were Ramirez and Jones, he had been happy to hear. Two more had just switched from official Overwatch business to Blackwatch a week ago, but he didn’t know why. The last one...well, it was Lambert. Of course it had to be him. Jesse’s mood had been dampened after seeing him on his team, but he was determined not to let Lambert ruin this for him. Ignoring him might be the best approach, Jesse thought as he entered the train.

As he looked around himself he noticed lots of high tech stuff lining the walls and ceiling, lights, buttons and displays all showed a level of alertness that should have been reassuring, but was more unsettling if he was being honest.  _ Nevermind _ , he thought and moved further inside until he reached his destination. It was a wagon especially designed for surveillance, monitors showed camera feeds from all angles around the train. Now that was handy, whoever might be coming at them, they would be seen from miles away, even in the dark because of the installed night vision. Jesse smiled and felt himself finally relax a little. 

“Move.” Lambert grunted and shoved Jesse aside to take a seat next to a console. Bristling, Jesse decided to stick to his plan on ignoring Lambert and didn’t even acknowledge him. Jones and Ramirez also entered the wagon, an easy smile on Jones’ face as they sat down next to Jesse.

“This is gonna be so easy.” Jones grinned and motioned to the monitors.

With a sigh Ramirez leaned back in his seat. “Yeah and  _ boring _ .” He grumbled and fished in his pocket for cigarettes, offering one to Jesse. Hesitantly, Jesse accepted and let Ramirez light it up for him. He hadn’t had a smoke in a while and he coughed slightly, a closer look at the thing revealed that it had been rolled by hand. Ramirez smirked at him and took a long drag from his, blowing out the smoke in Jones’ direction. 

“Do you have to do that in here?” Jones waved his hand in front of him to dispense the smoke, Jesse frowned and decided to put his cigarette out on the sole of his boot. 

“Ugh, Jones you’re such a health freak.” Ramirez said and proceeded to take another drag, only to put it out as well. The last two recruits had joined them by now, but they didn’t seem eager to make their acquaintance. They just sat there, their gazes locked onto the monitors, just like Lambert’s. 

Jesse and his two friends started up a conversation about nothing in particular, Jesse sparing glances at his surroundings and putting his hand on his standard issue pistol from time to time, he hadn’t been allowed to use  _ Peacekeeper _ just yet—which sucked—but he would not complain. The train had started moving by now and he could see the last rays of sunlight vanishing behind the horizon.

“ _ Reyes here. _ ” Gabriel’s voice in his ear shouldn’t have startled him, but Jesse’s body twitched in surprise and he sat up straighter in his seat. Everyone had been given the communicators to keep in touch with their Commander, but this was the first time Jesse had ever used it. Hearing Gabriel like this made him squirm, he sounded so  _ close _ , and his  _ Official Commander Reyes Voice  _ was so damn alluring.

“ _ This is going to be a long trip and I suggest you each take turns in watching the surroundings. Report any suspicious occurrences. I want to know if so much as a rock is out of place. Reyes out. _ ” Gabriel instructed them, then the line went dead. Jesse was hoping the man was just exaggerating to get his point across, because he was sure none of them would be able to tell if a rock was in a different spot. He looked at his comrades and saw their faces harden, everyone committed to their task. It was kind of encouraging.

And so they settled on the order in which everyone would take turns watching the monitors, Jesse going after one of the ‘new’ recruits, her name was Vaughan. Until then he decided to take a nap, pulled his hat in his face and closed his eyes.

* * *

 

The next thing Jesse knew was that he almost toppled out of his seat, the train had come to a screeching halt and he was momentarily disoriented, pushing his hat out of his face and his hand already grabbing his weapon. As he looked around he saw his fellow recruits being comparatively calm, but also ready to move.

“What’s goin’ on?” Jesse asked while he put his gun away, he was trying to look at the screens showing the camera feeds but they were obscured by Jones and Lambert.

“Train’s stopped.” Ramirez told him and Jesse could have slapped him for stating the obvious. There was no need though, because he went on to explain. “The way is blocked.” He said calmly, a frown on his face. Just then Jones stepped away from the screens and Jesse could see the problem. A landslide had resulted in gigantic boulders and rubble on the train tracks, the train’s headlights were illuminating their obstacle. Well, those rocks surely didn’t belong there.

“Shit.” Jesse mumbled under his breath. “Have you told Reyes yet?” Everyone before him shook their heads.

“Figured _you_ ’d want to call your chéri.” Lambert quipped quietly from his seat, he looked as interested in it all as if they were assessing antiques.

_ Chéri?  _ Wasn’t that darling in French?

_ Just let it slide _ , Jesse told himself, breathing through his nose and already pressing the button on his communicator. He saw the inquisitive frown on Ramirez’ face, but decided to ignore it as well. 

“ _ What is it? _ ” Came Gabriel’s slightly worried voice. 

“We, uh...have a problem, boss.” Jesse stammered and explained the situation to Gabriel, who groaned and told them there would be reinforcements coming to clear the way.

“ _ I want you to be extra alert now, we can’t rule out that this is a setup for an ambush. _ ” Gabriel finished and was out again before Jesse could answer. Everyone had heard him through their communicators and so they decided to patrol the perimeters in groups of two. Before Jesse knew it, they were all in their groups and he was left to team up with Lambert, who didn’t seem any happier about this arrangement than Jesse felt.

Lambert and him went to patrol the west side of the freight train, power flashlights lighting their path. It wasn’t so bad, Jesse thought. There was no need for conversation anyway and he kept his distance from the Frenchman. They slowly neared the majority of the rocks and boulders blocking the train tracks, his light revealed that the landslide had been recent, small rubble was still trickling down occasionally from the hill nearby. Best to keep their distance, he concluded and kicked a small rock aside, which landed right before Lambert’s feet. 

“You’re not very bright, are you?” Lambert accused him and shone his light directly into Jesse’s eyes, who tried to shield them with his hand. 

“Stop that!” Jesse complained and went forward to lower Lambert’s flashlight away from his face.  _ Jesus _ , that guy was infuriating.

“Don’t disturb the rocks further, there might be another avalanche.” Lambert told him, but Jesse only scoffed. 

“Yeah, me kicking that little rock will cause another one, right.” He rolled his eyes, but moved away from the rubble, leaving Lambert behind him. 

“You’re so fucking  _ arrogant _ .” Lambert suddenly burst out, causing Jesse to whirl around again. “You think you can waltz in here and disrupt the hierarchy just like that by playing favourites with the commander.”

Jesse felt himself grow tense with anger, he did not get any special treatment...right?

Or did he? So far it hadn’t really felt like he had advantages over the other recruits, his training had been the same, he even had to work double as hard as the others in order to catch up and be where he was now. Indignation gnawed at him for Lambert to dismiss all his hard work like that, that had been only him. 

“I’m not playing anything. And you better watch your mouth.” Jesse hissed. 

“Or what?” Lambert took a step towards him, his height advantage becoming more prominent. “You shouldn’t even be here, you’re barely with us a few months and already on a mission?” His face contorted as if in pain. “I don’t care what he said, I’m not going to stand by and let you take everything I’ve worked so hard for.”

What who said? Jesse frowned and was about to ask what he was talking about, but the sound of trickling rocks and sand caught his attention. Raising his flashlight just in time to see a gigantic boulder rolling down the hillside, Jesse acted on pure instinct. 

“Watch out!” Throwing the light aside, he ran towards Lambert, who stood with his back to the rubble and barrelled into him, knocking him off his feet and away from the falling rocks. 

With an “Oof” they landed on the ground, but closer to the blockage than Jesse had anticipated. He could feel his shoulder coming into contact with the sharp rock, hoping it didn’t ruin his new gear. 

“Get off!” Lambert grumbled and pushed Jesse off of him. As he came back up, Jesse felt that the wound was deeper than he had thought. With a hiss he brought his right hand up to touch his left shoulder, as he rubbed his fingers together he felt the slippery slide of blood on his leather gloves.  _ Damnit _ . Lambert’s flashlight had fallen in the sand when Jesse had pushed him down and he went to pick it up to search his.

As he bent to pick up his own, he heard Lambert swearing a few feet ahead. With his light in his left hand he illuminated the other and saw him dusting himself off. 

“Here.” He called out and threw Lambert’s flashlight for him to catch. The young man caught it and fumbled with it, his whole demeanor changed into one of insecurity. Jesse couldn’t help it, he smiled a little because he had never seen him like that before. So distraught. That had been worth it to get hurt, he thought and he winced a little while covering his wound with the cape he was wearing around his shoulders, a small personal touch he had added to his outfit. It definitely came in handy now. 

Lambert and him both decided on not talking any more for the rest of their patrolling duty, the only things they said were occasional check ups over comms with their squad mates or Gabriel asking for an update and giving them information on the whereabouts of the incoming reinforcements. Having his earpiece in his right ear was a blessing, Jesse thought, because he wasn’t sure he could have moved his left arm that much. The wound had started throbbing painfully and he wasn’t sure what to do. Should he tell Gabriel about it or would it be a sign of weakness? He didn’t want him to think that a small inconvenience like that bothered him so much, the mission came first.

Steeling his resolve, Jesse decided on not telling him about it. It was just a small wound and he could bear the pain. In only a few hours he would be able to get it checked out and a bandaid put on. It probably wasn’t serious anyways, the blood flow had almost stopped he noticed, after repeatedly wiping it away with his cape. 

Finally, after an hour, a helicarrier arrived and landed a few yards away from the train. Its great doors opened and out came two front loaders which immediately went to work on the blockage. They were quick and efficient, the tracks were free after just twenty minutes. So the train got moving again and after another hour they reached their destination. By now Jesse tried to not move his arm at all, it had become a hot pain, sweat had formed on his brow, but when Ramirez asked him if he was ok, he simply laughed it off as too much gear on him that made him hot. Thankfully, a small plane was already waiting for them in Càdiz which they boarded and promptly flew back to base.

On their way home Gabriel commended them via comm on a job well done, Jesse hid his smile under the Stetson hat. How he looked forward to seeing him again, to talk to him again. God, he yearned for himl, just to lie with him in bed and  _ be _ with him, like that last time in his quarters. Envisioning their time together filled Jesse with a sense of calm, elation even and as he shut his eyes to better focus on his ruminations, he slowly drifted off.

“ _ Touch down in five. _ ” Came the pilot’s voice through the speakers, waking Jesse from his slumber. His shoulder reminded him of the wound with a painful throb and he winced. Taking a look at his shoulder, he could see that the wound had finally bled through his cape, albeit barely visible on the black fabric. Grimacing, he carefully pulled it aside. Tracks of congealed blood were running down his arm. Damn, he had not realized the bleeding had been that severe after all. Quickly, he got up from his seat and entered the small bathroom, where he washed off the blood on his clothes, thankful that most of his gear was waterproof. As he reached the wound itself, he stuck to just cleaning the surrounding area and checked in the mirror to see if any debris had gotten in it. It wasn’t a long cut, but it felt pretty deep. 

To stem the new blood flow after inspecting the wound, he rolled some toilet paper in his hand and put it on the cut, pressing firmly. Shit, he’d have to hurry. The plane would land in just a minute, so he left the bathroom and got back in his seat, ready for touchdown.

Gabriel was already waiting for them in the debriefing room, no rest for them yet it seemed. 

“Well done, recruits. I know some of you are a little disappointed that nothing exciting happened,” His gaze landed on Ramirez. “But a successful mission is our top most priority.” He concluded and Jesse saw Ramirez’ eyes lower at Gabriel’s glower.

Jesse sat the farthest away from Gabriel, the bloodied wad of tissue paper currently in his pocket after he had been able to stop the bleeding again. He hoped it stayed that way, right now he only wanted the debriefing to end and to get to the infirmary. As Gabriel went on, Jesse felt himself losing focus, his throbbing shoulder the center of his attention. 

Everything had gotten quiet around him, Jesse noticed and startled. His comrades were looking at him expectantly, and a quick glance at Gabriel told him that he had been asked a question or something similar. 

“...Sir?” Jesse asked, his heart pounding. 

“Nevermind.” Gabriel said calmly, but his eyes had moved to Jesse’s shoulder.

_ Shit, he noticed _ , Jesse thought and instinctively adjusted his posture so he didn’t look like he was in pain or trying to hide something. 

As if he hadn’t seen anything out of the ordinary, Gabriel brought the debriefing to its end and dismissed everyone. Thanking any deity that was listening, Jesse got up from his chair and quickly made his way to the exit.

“McCree.” Gabriel’s voice was rather quiet, but Jesse’s response was immediate. Freezing in his spot, he waited for everyone to leave, Ramirez gave him a last slightly worried look, but closed the door behind him, leaving them both alone in the debriefing room. He turned around, his stomach in knots and looked Gabriel straight in the eyes. The man proceeded to move forward, his face hard, and extended his arm to uncover Jesse’s hurt shoulder.

Well, shit. 

“What is that?” Gabriel asked and Jesse could feel his stomach dropping.

“It’s nothing, Sir.” He tried, but the sneer on Gabriel’s face made his throat seize up. The man crossed his arms before him as he looked down his nose at Jesse. 

“Don’t  _ Sir _ me now, Jesse.” He hissed, then proceeded to throw his arms in the air exasperatedly. “Why hadn’t you told me about this? I should—” He started, but caught himself, closing his eyes in concentration and breathing through his nose. When he opened them again, Jesse could practically feel the disappointment radiating from him. “Go and see Dr. Ziegler.” Gabriel said flatly. 

When Jesse opened his mouth to say something, he was interrupted. 

“Now!” Gabriel almost bellowed, causing Jesse to salute out of reflex and scurry to leave for the infirmary. On his way there, he tried to swallow the lump in his throat. The disappointment in Gabriel’s eyes was somehow more painful than his actual wound and he hated himself for doing this to him.  _ But you didn’t do anything wrong _ , a small voice inside of him spoke up.  _ You saved Lambert _ . 

But Gabriel didn’t know that. Should he tell him, or would that sound like an excuse? Would he even believe him? Jesse was sure that Lambert would deny anything nice that Jesse had done for him and then he’d be labelled a liar. As far as he knew, there hadn’t been anyone to witness what had happened.

_ Gabriel trusts you _ , that voice told him again,  _ he’d believe you _ . Would he though? After Jesse hadn’t mentioned that his arm had been cut up? He had seemed very upset about it. That small spark of what they had going on was surely snuffed now...Jesse felt like crying if he was being honest. Sniffing once, he entered the infirmary and was greeted by a nurse who led him into the next examination room. As if in a daze he greeted Dr. Ziegler, not even her beauty could permeate the sadness he felt. He vaguely heard her talking to the nurse for help in bearing Jesse’s torso to her so she could get to work on his wound.

“Oh, that looks painful.” She mused to herself as she examined the cut, then reached for disinfectant and lots of cotton balls which she dabbed on the wound to clean it. The burning pain brought Jesse back out of his thoughts and he hissed through his teeth involuntarily. “Sorry about that.” Dr. Ziegler gave him an apologetic smile and continued her work. Jesse watched her remove all the congealed blood, the smell of the disinfectant and coppery blood reached his nose and he had to turn his head away not to gag. Somehow this was more than he could handle at the moment. Plus, he hadn’t eaten in half a day, his stomach was upset. 

Even though he felt like shit, Jesse didn’t want to be rude to the doctor. “Thank you for patching me up, doc.” He forced himself to look at her and smiled. 

“You’re welcome, but there’s no need to thank me.” She reassured him and laid down her tongs with the last cotton ball on a metal dish with a clink. Next she held up a syringe, pushing a bit of its contents outside, removing any air bubbles. She proceeded to numb the area around the wound, Jesse could have wept in relief, then picked up needle and thread. 

For this, Jesse really wanted to look away, but found he almost didn’t feel anything when the sharp metal entered his skin. In morbid fascination he watched the doctor work quick and nimble, a faint tugging sensation all that he could register. The result was very neat. Jesse felt compelled to compliment her on her needlework, but deemed it inappropriate. She wasn’t a seamstress, maybe she would take offense to it.

Cutting the thread with a snip of her scissors, she finally removed her gloves to dispose of them in a nearby trash can, which made a small sound as if it was already shredding the things to pieces. “There. You’ll be just fine, Jesse.” With her pretty smile on him, the corners of his mouth rose on their own volition. Jesse took another look at his newly sewn wound and found that it didn’t appear as terrible anymore. With small, cautious movements he tested the material’s give, but of course he still couldn’t feel much. “Don’t agitate it too much as of yet, give it time to heal. I would like you to stay here for now, I need to run a few blood tests.” She said after putting a bandage on the patched wound and wrote something down on a nearby piece of paper. “You can stay in the bed if you like, rest a little.”  When she was done, she gave the paper to Jesse and he saw that it was a prescription for painkillers. “You’re lucky the wound hadn’t gotten infected, it is critical to treat wounds immediately to prevent infection.” Dr. Ziegler explained and frowned at him. “Why didn’t you, by the way?” She asked, her head slightly inclined. 

Ah, the big question which reminded him of his current predicament. “Well, I… have no idea. Guess I thought it wasn’t that bad. Stupid, I know.” He saw her expression soften at his apparent anguish.

“Just make sure to do it from now on, alright?” She said gently and left the room with a goodbye. 

Jesse sighed deeply and laid his head back against the pillow. What a mess this had become. Not at all what he had expected of that mission, he had wanted to prove himself after all, not fail Gabriel completely. 

Speak of the devil. Jesse heard the thunderous approach of combat boots and only seconds later a knock on his door. He swallowed nervously and told his guest to enter. Gabriel stepped inside and closed the door behind him carefully, then he turned around with hard eyes. 

“What were you thinking?” He started and moved to stand in front of the foot of the bed. 

Jesse just stared at the man. Somehow, he simply couldn’t find the words to explain himself. But clearly, Gabriel expected some form of acknowledgement. 

“I know I fucked up.” Jesse said quietly, his gaze on his hands. “I made a mistake and I’m sorry.”

He raised his eyes cautiously, trying to gauge Gabriel’s mood, but it was almost impossible to read him. Just then, something changed in the man, the furrowed brow and the hard line of his mouth relaxed a little, his eyes almost looked...sad?

“You know, I’m supposed to berate you on your irresponsible behaviour towards your teammates by withholding vital information about your health.” He wiped his face with one large palm. “And that you could have compromised the entire mission by doing that.” He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “But what really  _ fucking _ irks me is that you didn’t tell  _ me _ about it.” Gabriel’s eyes searched his and Jesse felt his throat constrict. “Guess I was a fool for thinking you trusted me.” Looking off to the side, Gabriel’s shoulders slumped.

“No!” Jesse almost shouted, startling Gabriel from his monologue. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, I really am! And it’s got nothin’ to do with me not trustin’ you at all. Because I do, damn, I trust you with my  _ life _ .” Jesse needed to breathe a second, his heart was constricting in his chest. “I honestly didn’t think the wound was that terrible and I didn’t want you to think I’m...weak, that a minor wound would bother me that much.”

“You really think of me like that?” Gabriel’s voice sounded offended. “You think I don’t care about you?” He moved around the bed in order to get closer. “Because that is what this sounds like to me. I don’t care how deep that wound is, I don’t even care how you got it.” At that, Gabriel sat down on the bed next to Jesse. “But I do care about  _ you _ .” His hand landed on Jesse’s and Jesse instinctively took hold of Gabriel’s with his own, both their eyes on where their hands were joined. 

“I care about you, too.” Jesse said quietly, raising his eyes at the man sitting before him. They weren’t smiling, but it was okay, Jesse could see the affection in Gabriel’s face plain as day and felt immensely blessed at this very moment. Blessed, that this amazing human being truly  _ cared _ for him, there was this silent understanding between them which Jesse felt he needed to vocalize. “I’m never gonna not tell you something on purpose again, Gabriel. I’m sorry.”

Gabriel squeezed his hand and nodded once, then he sighed and grimaced. “Now let me tell Jack to stop sending me messages asking about you. Geez, how annoying can one be?” He half joked and produced a small holopad, typing something and muttering how he should not have told him about Jesse’s injury before his visit.

Jack had asked about him? That warmth spread inside him again, he really had them worried, he realized. He smiled to himself as he watched Gabriel hunched over his holopad, his ruggedly handsome face illuminated by the display’s dull blue light. 

“So,” Gabriel finally said after putting the holopad away. “How long do you have to stay here?” 

Jesse just shrugged and told him about the tests the doctor wanted to run before he was allowed to leave. Annoyance was clearly written across the man’s face and without another word he got up from his spot on the bed and left the room. 

Well, that was...an unexpected end to their conversation. But Jesse didn’t have time to wonder too much, just a minute later Gabriel reentered and threw Jesse’s hat in the youth’s lap. 

“Come on, we’re leaving.” He said and was already opening the door for Jesse. 

“But what about the tests?” He asked uncertain and tried to peek out of the room to maybe see a frightened nurse or something else that spoke of Gabriel’s  _ Commander Reyes Mode _ having been in use. 

“Doctor said you’re free to go, tests are all a-okay.” He reassured him and Jesse couldn’t help but grin as he climbed out of the bed. 

“Wait, I don’t have a shirt to wear?” His old one had been cut up and drenched in blood, also probably burnt by now…

“You’ll be fine.” Gabriel smirked and motioned for Jesse to leave. As Jesse passed him he heard him murmur for only his ears. “You’ve got nothing to hide, anyways.” Causing Jesse’s ears to to go pink. Suddenly he felt self-conscious and a look at Gabriel revealed that the man found this situation rather amusing. Bristling, Jesse moved on, goosebumps rising on his skin. Might as well appear confident about this, like it had been  _ his _ idea to not wear a damn shirt.

Where were they going anyway, Jesse wondered, but as they rounded another corner of the many corridors in the base, it became clear to him. He felt anxious but also so damn  _ excited _ . 

“Stick that chest out some more, will you?” Gabriel laughed as they entered his office.

Jesse scoffed in mock offense. “I’m not sticking anything out.” 

“Well, isn’t that a shame?” Jack’s baritone suddenly chimed in and Jesse was grateful he didn’t jump in surprise. The blond was just getting up from his spot at Gabriel’s neat desk and came over to him, his eyes immediately drawn to his patched wound. “I trust Gabe has already talked to you about this?” Jack asked in a clinical fashion, Jesse only nodded meekly in response. “Good.” He said with a smile. “If the unpleasant stuff has been dealt with, let us please relax for the rest of the day.” He sounded exhausted, he probably had a rough day as well. 

Gabriel only grunted in agreement and the both of them moved over to the big bed, leaving Jesse alone in the middle of the room, unsure what to do. When they noticed he wasn’t coming, Gabriel motioned for him to join them, which he promptly did. Jack had already turned on the television and switched through the channels, while Jesse sat down on the bed. They all sat on top of the covers, Gabriel and Jack comfortable and relaxed while Jesse’s heartbeat started to increase. He was in bed with the both of them…at the same time. He wasn’t sure if he had the energy to do much more today, but of course he wouldn’t say no to some sweet, sweet affection from them. 

Gabriel patted the spot next to him, inviting Jesse to lay in between them. He awkwardly crawled over Gabriel’s legs and finally settled between the two men, his pulse still quickened. After zapping through the television program for a few more seconds, Gabriel called out once he saw something he liked. It was one of those Spanish telenovelas he apparently liked.

Jack groaned. “Not again, I don’t understand what these people are saying.” He complained, but set the remote aside.

“I always told you to learn Spanish, our Jesse here understands it just fine.” He nudged Jesse in the shoulder, careful of his wound.

“What?” Jack asked in mild shock. “Great, now I’m outnumbered one to two.” With a sigh he crossed his arms and laid back against the bed’s headboard. Jesse smiled at their little squabble, it made him relax a little more seeing them being so casual.

The three of them watched the television program, while Gabriel and Jesse took turns translating sentences to Jack, who had started to show an interest in what was happening on screen. It felt good to just be with them, it was like they were good friends enjoying a movie together. Jesse turned quiet, he let the actor’s musical Spanish lull him into a state of relaxation, the men on either side of him had grown rather silent as well. Soon Jesse felt his eyelids and his head becoming heavy, he was sinking down the headboard until he lay down completely, his hands on his bare belly.

He remembered waking up a little while later with a hand smoothing his hair and his head in someone’s lap. But he fell right back to sleep and didn’t wake until much later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to let you all know that your comments really mean the world to me, so thank you so, so much! I'm wishing you only non-toxic teammates in your Overwatch matches :)


	12. Chapter 12

Waking up in the afternoon had always been one of Jesse’s favourite things to do, and today was no different. Although waking up to the sound of a struggle has never been a fond part of that routine, he scrunched his face up in distaste; what were these Deadlock bastards fighting about this time, rousing him from his exceptionally peaceful slumber? It was probably Manning and one of the new guys, he had half a mind to tell them to stick it where the sun don’t shine, but as he opened his eyes he wasn’t in the Deadlock hideout, but in Gabriel’s room. Momentarily startled by his slow brain, he wondered how he could have ever mistaken what was going on for a brawl.

Across from him—only mere inches—there lay Gabriel and Jack in an intimate embrace, kissing the living daylights out of each other. Jesse felt like the proverbial deer caught in the headlights, all he could do was stare. The sounds he had heard were the rustling of the sheets and their clothes, as well as their elevated breathing accompanying their small grunts and stifled moans.  _ Holy hell _ , he thought, trying to stay quiet. Seeing them like this should have made him feel weird. Each one of them had been intimate with Jesse and he should at least feel a little...jealous? But he didn’t. No, seeing the small smile playing across Jack’s lips while Gabriel kissed his neck made him flush and something stir deep within him. He wanted to be a part of that, to receive and—most of all— _ give _ this kind of affection to these two incredible men. His hands practically itched to reach out and touch, but at the same time he didn’t want to disturb their little moment.

So he stayed very still, only his eyes moving to take it all in: the shape of Gabriel’s back sloping down into the swell of his  _ amazing _ butt, followed by his powerful thighs currently straddling Jack’s sides. Even though both were still fully clothed in casual wear, the way the fabric hung to their bodies revealed a lot about their workout routine. Jack’s sleep tousled hair was more sexy than he would have ever imagined and he longed to let his fingers run through the tresses. Mouthwatering was the correct word here, he mused as the corner of his mouth rose. He watched as Jack’s hand roamed up Gabriel’s leg to squeeze his butt, making the man above him draw back from his kiss and murmur something in the blond’s ear. Jack hummed in affirmation and suddenly Jesse stared directly into his blue eyes.

“Sleep well?” Jack asked with a small smile, totally making Jesse feel like a voyeur caught in the act and his face heated up in embarrassment. 

“Uh, I—yeah.” He answered and cleared his throat awkwardly, already rolling on his back again, so it didn’t look like he had been  _ enjoying the show _ . Gabriel chuckled as he sat up on his haunches and stretched his body like a panther, then he brushed the back of his hand along Jack’s cheek gently and got up from the bed with a wink towards Jesse.

“I’m gonna make us some coffee.” He said as he walked towards the small kitchenette hidden behind an open wall, one hand scratching his beard. That left Jesse alone with Jack once more who, he noticed, was looking at him intently again, one of those genuine smiles on his handsome face.

“How’s your shoulder?” Came the sudden question which reminded Jesse of the uncomfortable pain in his upper arm. Already Jesse waved his hand in dismissal, but his placating smile vanished as he saw Jack’s hand reaching for his. He held it firmly, drawing Jesse’s gaze there and then up to his eyes. “You know you can be honest with us.” Jack implored him and it sent a feeling of embarrassment through Jesse at the memory of the previous day and how he had fucked up, hurting Gabriel’s feelings in the process. 

Jesse released a breath and looked awkwardly to the side. This whole  _ admitting to weakness thing _ was still kind of hard for him and he mumbled that his shoulder was indeed hurting. “But only a lil’ bit.” He added, no need to alarm Jack. The man nodded, then his hand brushed up Jesse’s forearm and then his neck, skipping over the wound and rested his hand behind Jesse’s head softly.

“Do you want to go get the painkillers now, or do you think you can bear it a little longer?” Jack asked, a glint in his eye. Already Jesse’s heart started beating a little faster, he shook his head no and told Jack that it really wasn’t so bad. 

“That is great.” Jack said and Jesse scooted a little closer, his own hand coming to rest on the man’s hip. “Are you ready for some physical activity yet?” Jack rumbled and Jesse wanted to roll his eyes at the weird phrasing but laughed instead.

“Yes.” He breathed and came into full contact with the other’s front. He was so warm and his proximity so comforting, Jesse closed his eyes and buried his head in the crook of Jack’s shoulder and neck, a contented sigh erupting from him. He had missed Jack just as much as Gabriel, and to finally hold him in his arms again was pure bliss. 

“Hey,” Jack said softly and cradled the youth in his arms. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

Jesse drew back a little and nodded, his hands on Jack’s back pulling him closer and then he kissed him, without a trace of insecurity. And the man kissed him back, falling into Jesse’s lazy pattern of kisses, licks and cautious nips.

When Jesse had watched the two make out so passionately earlier he had already become half-hard at the sight alone. Now that he was touching Jack, he felt his blood pool in his groin and the pleasurable ache of it pressing against his pants. Unconsciously his hips were pressing into Jack, who laid one leg over his, further embracing Jesse with his powerful body. With a small moan, Jesse let his hands wander down Jack’s body, over his pectorals and further until he reached the hem of Jack’s shirt. Insistently, he tugged at the offending piece of clothing and Jack obliged by pulling away a little and removing the shirt entirely. Now Jesse couldn’t stop himself, he surged forward, his mouth already latching onto the first bit of revealed skin, brushing his lips over it reverently, enjoying the feel of hard muscle beneath the soft skin. 

“You’re so darn gorgeous.” Jesse whispered hotly in between kisses and already moved his hands lower, trying to push down Jack’s sweatpants.

When Jack chuckled lightly, Jesse stopped to see what he was laughing about. There was a fondness in Jack’s eyes as he laid his hands on both sides of Jesse’s face, surging in to kiss him so slowly and languidly, that Jesse completely forgot what he had been about to do. Jesse could only whimper in the onslaught of that kiss, his hands bracing against the man and simply taking what he was offered. 

Jack hummed in appreciation and moved forward, rolling Jesse onto his back, so he could brace himself on both arms above the youth. Then he drew back, a mischievous glint in his eye again. One of his hands moved away from next to Jesse’s head and down to his front, brushing over the material of his shirt. “I remember you saying you’d like to be undressed the next time.” One eyebrow quirked. “Is this  _ next time _ ?”

Jesse grinned. “Hell yeah!”

Quickly, he sat up as Jack helped him out of his shirt, careful about his injury, and then was pushed back down by a firm hand on his now naked chest. Jack’s movements grew slower, more deliberate as he traced the hem of Jesse’s waistband with a finger. 

“May I?” He asked, voice deep and practically touching Jesse’s very soul. Jack’s constant requests for permission weirdly didn’t disturb the flow, Jesse noticed. He loved how it made him feel, like he was Jack’s partner, his  _ equal _ . Even though he wished he would touch him already. 

Not trusting his voice, Jesse nodded and Jack hooked his fingers beneath the elastic and pulled. His straining erection sprang free and with a sigh of relief Jesse closed his eyes, getting ready for Jack to touch him. Expecting a warm hand on his dick, Jesse’s eyes shot open in surprise when a wet heat engulfed him instead. Jack had his lips wrapped around him, his eyes closed in concentration and Jesse thought he might come immediately from the sight alone. 

“Oh!” He exclaimed when Jack hollowed his cheeks and sucked on him. Of course Jesse had had blowjobs before, but they had always been quick and mostly just to get things going and  _ never _ done this expertly. It had usually been him who had given and he considered himself pretty good at it, too. But Jack was doing a goddamn well job here as well. His hands reached down to fist in Jack’s hair, but he tried to not hurt the man—which was  _ so _ hard, given how fucking good this felt. He could already feel an orgasm approaching, but he just wasn’t ready for it yet, he wanted to feel Jack’s mouth on him some more. What if he had to leave soon? With a whine, Jesse pulled lightly on the blond hair. “Jack…” He almost pleaded, trying to get his attention. 

Jack slowed down a bit, Jesse almost sobbed in both relief and frustration, it had felt so amazing and he’d gladly have come just now but he wanted this to last a little longer. His body only relaxed minutely, he was still so close to the edge, Jack was still swirling his tongue around him and Jesse was sure he could come at this slow pace just as well. 

“Get a room.” Gabriel’s playful remark suddenly caused Jesse’s head to whip around. He had been so caught up that he had forgotten about the other man. Also, hearing someone barge in while you get your dick sucked had never been a good thing in the past. Reflexively, Jesse propped himself up on his elbows, his legs twitching. Gabriel was walking towards his desk with three steaming cups, a smirk on his face. Before Jesse could say something though, Jack’s warm hand came up to rest on his chest and pressed him down again. Jesse immediately fell back under Jack’s spell when he looked down and saw those blue eyes staring at him while the man continued to suck him off. 

Biting his lip, Jesse relented and laid down again as he watched Jack go back to work with his eyes closed. It looked like he really enjoyed what he was doing, and so did Jesse. A loud moan escaped him and he brought one hand up to bite the back of his hand, he needed to stifle the sounds he made somehow, he sounded like an overzealous tavern wench putting on a show for a customer. Rolling his head to the side he could see Gabriel sitting at his desk, coffee in hand and reading something on his holopad—like it was just another day at the office, fellatio included.

As if Gabriel had noticed, he shifted his eyes from his reading to Jesse, but doing nothing aside from looking. Jesse held his gaze and felt color rise to his cheeks, he didn’t feel embarrassed or humiliated at being watched like this. No, the thought that Gabriel was watching him while he was receiving a blowjob from Jack turned him on even more.

Jesse raised his hips to meet Jack’s hot mouth, wanting to bury himself inside even further, all the while watching Gabriel looking at him while the man was occasionally sipping on his coffee. It was driving him wild and he whined low in his throat, shifting the hand from his mouth upwards over his eyes. It was too much, too intense and the orgasm was coming too fast, too strong, that all he could do was embrace it as it overcame him. 

Once it was over and only the small aftershocks ran through him, Jesse removed the hand from his eyes and blinked at the soft light in the room. He could feel Jack move up from between his legs, his dick coming into contact with the man’s stomach and he gasped at the feeling, he was still very sensitive. As Jack settled above him, effectively blanketing his entire body, Jesse reached up to kiss him. The man was still wearing his pants, but Jesse could feel his hard erection pressing against his own spent cock as he tasted himself on the other’s tongue. 

Now was the moment to finally do what he had been craving to do this whole time. Eagerly, he moved his hands from Jack’s back down to the waistband of the man’s pants and pushed at them. But Jack moved out of reach. Frustrated, Jesse cried out plaintively and searched Jack’s eyes. “Please,” He begged. But Jack only gave him a small smile.

“It’s not my turn yet.” Jack said in a gravelly tone and had the audacity to wink at him as he walked away from the bed to help himself to a cup of Joe.  _ Goddamnit _ , Jesse was desperate to get his hands on the man and he was patronizing him like that. Huffing in disappointment, Jesse looked at the ceiling and crossed his arms; let the man know he was not happy about this. 

Gabriel chuckled into his coffee cup. “You’re pouting like a little kid.” He said and slightly shook his head, then set the cup aside, only to pick up the last one. “Here,” He said after approaching Jesse on the bed. “Drink.” And offered the coffee to him. Sighing to himself, Jesse sat up against the headboard and accepted the cup from Gabriel. It smelled really good and the first sip confirmed that it tasted amazing, even though Jesse preferred sugar and milk in it and this was black. 

There was a silence in the room while the three of them drank Gabriel’s brew. It started out light and casual, but when Jesse had almost finished his cup, the atmosphere changed. Gabriel and Jack had both finished by now and while Gabriel remained at the left side of the bed, Jack moved around to the other one and as if on an unheard command both got onto it, Jesse in between. Gabriel reached out and took the cup out of Jesse’s hand to put it down on the small bedside table. 

So...coffee time was over now? Jesse looked at each man in turn, trying to gauge their intentions. Before he had to worry which one he was supposed to face, Gabriel’s hand came up to him once more and took his chin in hand, guiding their mouths together. Immediately, Jesse relaxed into him, even turned around to fully face his body. Feeling the man’s clothes against his naked skin sent shivers through him, his arms came up and around Gabriel’s neck. He could taste the coffee on the man’s tongue, and his comforting smell made Jesse practically melt into the kiss. 

Gabriel’s hand on his back roamed further down, over his ass and his thigh, then his leg was being pulled up over Gabriel’s, opening Jesse up to them. The youth moaned and pressed his crotch into the man before him, who hummed pleasurably in turn. But suddenly there was another pair of hands on Jesse’s body, stroking his waist and coming to rest on the side of his throat. Jack leaned in and he could feel his hot breath on his neck, followed by open mouthed kisses there. 

Jesse broke the kiss to be able to  _ breathe _ , the sensations he felt were so overwhelming. He was practically surrounded by Jack and Gabriel, they were everywhere and anywhere and the thought that he could die and be at peace like this might have crossed his mind just a second there.

Jesse moaned as both men were kissing his neck and stroked him in various places,  _ damn _ he was hard again—his dick poking into Gabriel’s stomach before him. His own hands blindly searched for Gabriel’s cock, but as the man before him grunted, Jesse’s hands were suddenly grasped and pulled away behind his back where they were held gently, but firmly, by Jack.

“Ugh,  _ please _ ...” Jesse sobbed and tugged half-heartedly at Jack’s grip on him. Why, oh  _ why _ were they denying him of this? He only wanted to touch in return, to make them feel good, show his gratitude. But they wouldn’t let him. His eyes burned behind half-closed lids, it physically hurt to not be able to touch Gabriel at this moment.

“Shh, calm down.” Gabriel hushed him, his hands pulling Jesse in comfortingly so his head came to rest beneath the man’s chin. Jesse could hear and feel his small laugh. “We got you quite messed up,  _ cariño _ . I’m sorry, we’re not doing this to torture you.” He said and pulled away again, so Jesse was able to look him in the eyes, his hand running down Jesse’s cheek much like he had done earlier to Jack. 

“Then—let me...please…” Jesse whispered and tensed his arms, feeling Jack press against him further from behind. Again he was begging, but Jesse simply didn’t care at this point. 

“There is something we need to ask you first.” Jack rasped in his ear, Jesse strained his neck to get him to kiss him there again. What the hell did they need to know  _ now _ , Jesse wondered. But he bit his lip and nodded. Maybe if he clarified this quickly enough, he’d finally be allowed to touch. 

“How experienced are you, exactly?” Jack asked and Jesse was momentarily uncertain what he meant. Experienced in what, sex? Releasing a huff, Jesse half turned around to the man. 

“I’ve done the dirty before, if that is what you’re asking?” He almost spat out, frustration gnawing at him, he couldn’t help his sass.

“I’m not talking about handjobs, Jesse.” Jack murmured and Jesse groaned loudly as his dick came into contact with Gabriel from his movements.

Feeling his patience run thin, Jesse squirmed and felt a curse form on his tongue, but then Gabriel pulled him closer, Jesse saw something flash in his dark eyes, like his patience was waning at an equally fast pace as Jesse’s. 

“Have you ever been fucked by a man?” Gabriel asked him straight in the face, only inches away, and Jesse felt like he might faint at the images this question conjured up in his mind, of Gabriel pounding him into the mattress. 

Jesse made a small sound in his throat, his body going completely rigid while he stared into Gabriel’s brown eyes. His hesitation alone would probably have sufficed as an answer, but Jesse managed a small shake of his head. While he had had his escapades in the past, he had never dared to cross that line with anyone before, it had seemed too intimate, too trusting and that was something he simply hadn’t been able to afford. 

Until now.

And boy was he ready to finally do it, hoping that this newest revelation wouldn’t deter Gabe and Jack. Something in Gabriel’s expression softened as he looked from Jesse over his shoulder at the other man, who leaned over him from behind. 

“Would you like to?” Jack’s breathy question sent a jolt through him, he was completely sandwiched between the two. If they kept teasing him like that he was sure he was going to faint sooner or later, the suspense was killing him. 

“ _ Yes! _ ” Jesse moaned and arched his back to simultaneously press his butt into Jack and his chest into Gabriel. Arousal was lickig through his body and making him squirm in Jack’s grip. While he loved the way Jack held him, he also desperately wanted his hands free to grab Gabriel’s butt and thighs, to bury them in Jack’s golden hair and make  _ them _ moan for a change. 

But already Gabriel was kissing him, Jesse surrendering all of himself enthusiastically while he felt Jack’s hand brushing to the small of his back and lower, briefly squeezing his butt and then moving in between his cheeks gently. All the while Gabriel was kissing him senseless and the man’s hand lightly stroked Jesse’s weeping dick. His leg was still laying over Gabriel’s and gave Jack access to his behind, he felt his warm fingers ghost over his hole.

This felt... _ amazing _ . Being stimulated from both sides, even as lightly as they did. The finger at his entrance was only stroking and caressing shallowly, never truly penetrating and it drove Jesse wild with need. Need for more. So he pressed back onto that finger but Jack made sure to keep it outside. Whining in complaint, Jesse broke his kiss with Gabriel to turn his upper body towards Jack behind him, but before he could even say something, Jack bent forward to capture his mouth himself. Jesse felt Gabriel’s strong hand take hold of his thigh and lift his leg even higher, giving Jack more room to rub over his hole. It made him feel so  _ exposed, _ and that thought turned him on so much he felt his face heat.

Suddenly, Jack moved away and Jesse was arranged by deft hands so he lay on his stomach, on top of a very smug looking Gabriel. As he came face to face with the man once more, Jesse didn’t waste any time and busied his mouth again, swiping his tongue over his lips to gain entrance. Gabriel opened up with a pleased hum and Jesse felt his heart constrict with emotion for him. His hands came up to cradle Gabe’s head between them, he hadn’t even noticed Jack releasing him, but he was damn well pleased about it.

Fucking finally.

He ground himself into Gabriel while the man embraced him fully and they shared a kiss that bordered on frantic.

Lips on his shoulder reminded him of Jack’s presence, who caressed down Jesse’s body with his big hands once more and propped him up on his knees above Gabriel. Those hands moved to his butt cheeks again and then Jesse felt something hot and wet against his hole. With a gasp he pushed away from Gabriel, looking at the man with wide eyes. 

“Oh  _ god _ …” Jesse whispered and closed his eyes in pleasure. 

“Do you like that, Jessito?” Gabriel purred and wound his hand in Jesse’s hair, holding him close so he could look him in the face while Jack was working his wet tongue on him. His face heated even more as he panted pleased little moans. Gabriel could read every obscene thing that Jack was doing to him on Jesse’s face, like when he pressed inside just a bit and Jesse had to bite his lip. Or how his breath hitched when Jack flattened his tongue to slowly drag its slightly coarse surface over Jesse’s quivering hole. 

“Fuck...yes…” Jesse mumbled and fisted his hands in the man’s shirt. He needed some goddamn friction on his dick, his balls were aching to release again. But the way he was propped up on his knees kept his junk out of reach for any kind of contact. At the same time he didn’t want to get away from Jack’s wicked tongue. God, that man had a talented mouth, Jesse moaned loudly again when it pressed inside just a bit more.

It felt incredible, he needed more and pushed back in hopes of Jack getting the hint. 

Apparently he did, because there was a finger, slick with spit, breaching his now relaxed ring of muscle in addition to the tongue. Jesse cried out in pleasure at the feeling of finally being penetrated like that. 

“Just listen to you,” Gabriel’s voice dripped with lust, close and raspy as it was and Jesse mindlessly opened his mouth in invitation. The man seized the opportunity and claimed his lips in the most filthy way. 

Behind him, Jack was working him open slowly, his finger gradually moving deeper while supplying it with more and more spit to ease the way. Then he bent his finger just  _ so _ and Jesse’s body seized in pleasure, momentarily breaking away from Gabriel’s mouth as a groan erupted from him. 

“Do that again.” Gabriel said to Jack and pulled at Jesse to bring their mouths together once more. 

And then Jesse’s eyes glazed over, while Jack started to hit that spot almost every single time he pushed inside. No longer able to hold a coherent thought in the onslaught of sheer pleasure, Jesse let his slack mouth be ravaged by Gabriel. All he could do was try and hold himself upright on shaky legs as his prostate was massaged.

Before he knew it, he felt his orgasm approach swiftly, a tightness coiling in his abdomen. Startled by the fact that he was coming without his dick being involved, he drew back from Gabriel yet again. 

“I’m—” A whine interrupted his warning, but Gabriel seemingly knew what he was about to say and blessedly wrapped his hand around Jesse’s dick to stroke him deliciously.

“Come for me,  _ hermoso _ [beautiful].” Gabriel growled and this was what tipped Jesse over the edge. 

As his second orgasm washed over him Jesse held his breath to savor every second of it, then released it in a drawn out groan. His hips jerked forward into Gabriel’s fist, his knees gave out and he collapsed onto the man with a weary sigh. Gabriel held him like this, one hand stroking Jesse’s hair and his other one trapped in the sticky mess between them while he pressed warm lips to the youth’s forehead. 

Staying like this for the rest of his life would have been fine with Jesse, and he indulged in it for a few minutes, but there was something he finally needed to do. 

“‘S my turn now.” He mumbled into Gabriel’s chest and pushed himself up on arms steadied by determination. He felt Jack give him a kiss on the shoulder in parting before he left the bed, a promise for things to come. But already Jesse tugged at Gabriel’s shirt insistently and was relieved when the man removed it entirely. Not wasting any time, he went for his pants and boxers, too. 

This time there were no hands stopping him and Jesse was  _ giddy _ . He felt something stir inside him at the sight of Gabriel’s erect cock directly before him. 

_ Shit _ , he was gorgeous laying there in all his naked glory, Jesse had to stop and admire him in his entirety. One of his hands brushed up Gabriel’s knee and thigh, he felt his teeth clench with sheer desire. Both his hands were busy stroking him now, they came closer to the impressive manhood standing proudly from a dark nest of pubes. Then, just before he touched him there, a thought entered his mind. 

Jesse bit his lip coyly. “May I?” He asked Gabriel and heard Jack snicker quietly to himself across the room. If Jack thought consent was important, then so did Jesse. Besides, it was  _ hot _ and it felt empowering as well.

“ _ Por supuesto _ . [Of course.]” Gabriel purred, the sound of the rolling “r” sending a pleasant shiver through Jesse. And then his hand finally wrapped itself around Gabriel’s hot throbbing cock and, because he was greedy, so did his mouth. Gabriel hissed through his teeth and let his fingers glide through Jesse’s hair once more. Humming in pleasure, Jesse took Gabriel deeper into his mouth, his only goal was to please him at that moment. It was a need that filled his entire being, the thought that Jesse could give him this was intoxicating and pushing him further, his hand twisted with every down stroke while he sucked on the glans. 

He risked a tentative look upwards and saw Gabriel looking back at him, his eyes hooded behind dark lashes and his mouth slightly parted. 

Jesse was lost. Moaning pathetically, he closed his eyes and took Gabriel’s dick so far into his throat that he had difficulty breathing, causing the man to groan in pleasure and the hand in his hair to tighten. 

_ Yes _ , Jesse thought and kept at it. Even though his jaw started to ache, Jesse could have worshipped him with his mouth until Gabriel would have told him to stop or Jesse passed out from fatigue. Whichever came first.

“Hn, Jesse.” Gabriel said in warning, he seemed to be close. But Jesse wanted to take everything Gabriel had to offer, so he positioned his hands to the man’s hips, sliding his mouth down the length of his dick until his nose was pressed into the hair at the base and held on. Gabriel’s breathing was ragged and his hand clenching in Jesse’s hair, his hips pressed upwards into Jesse’s mouth and then he came. Jesse felt Gabriel’s dick spasm, pulsing its release down Jesse’s throat and still he held on, until the man’s hips had stopped moving. When he pulled away, Jesse made sure to milk every last drop of Gabriel’s release out of him with his hand and onto his tongue. 

As he looked at Gabriel again, there was an expression akin to awe on the man’s face. The hand in his hair had been removed and now wiped down the man’s own face.

“ _ Dios mio _ …” Gabriel sighed and leaned back into the pillows. “I think I just got my soul sucked out of me.”

The praise got Jesse to blush and a feeling of pride overcame him. Gabriel had definitely enjoyed himself, Jesse was so  _ happy _ . He was being pulled upwards so their bodies lay aligned, Jesse half on top of Gabriel again with his ear over the man’s chest. He could hear his heartbeat as it was slowing down from his recent excitement.  _ What a comforting sound _ , he thought and closed his eyes with a small smile. They lay there to catch their breath, Jesse in Gabriel’s strong arms breathing in his scent.

“You still surprise me, Jessito.” Gabriel laughed lightly and pulled the youth closer to him.

Jesse traced the man’s pectorals with a forefinger. “What d’ya mean?” He mumbled against his skin, though he had an inkling about what he was referring to. 

“Had I known you’d go down on me like  _ that _ ,” Gabriel breathed. “I’d have invited you to do it way sooner.” Barking a laugh at that, Jesse looked up to see Gabriel’s smirk. 

“You know, I might have even done it, too.” 

“Oh really?”

“Yeah.”

“Since when did you have that crush on me then?” Gabriel teased and Jesse felt his cheeks become warm. 

_ Since I first saw you.  _

“Jesse McCree doesn’t do  _ crushes _ .” He chose to say instead, ducking his head again and watching Gabriel’s chest rise and fall as he chuckled at that. 

“So, does that mean you feel nothing when I do this?” Gabriel half whispered and used a finger to tilt Jesse’s face up to him, then he bent forward and kissed him oh so gently while murmuring Spanish endearments in between. Color rose to Jesse’s cheeks at their meaning and he felt his heart jump in joy. Jesse would have to be dead in order not to be affected by this cuddling, his heart seemed to burst with emotion. He felt safe and loved and it was everything anyone could ever want, really. When Gabriel pulled away it was with a smirk, knowing full well what he’d achieved, Jesse already missed his proximity. 

“You’re certainly trying, darlin’.” Jesse tried to play it down, even though his pink ears probably gave him away. Gabriel laughed and hugged him then placed a kiss on top of Jesse’s head.

“Oh, but I haven’t even started yet.” The man said with a wink, but then pulled away to sit at the edge of his bed, stretching his arms and giving Jesse a nice view of his moving back muscles. That probably meant he would have to wait. Even though he had just had two orgasms and had finally been able to get a taste of Gabriel, Jesse found that he hadn’t gotten enough yet. In fact, it would never be enough, he  _ wanted _ them. He wanted them so much, that the mere thought of doing the same with Jack right now made his dick twitch in interest.

As he sat up, Jesse finger combed his hair and watched Gabriel disappear inside the bathroom, the now open door releasing steam clouds and the sound of a running shower. 

Sitting there in Gabriel’s rather large bed, Jesse couldn’t help the smile forming on his face. Who’d have thought that Jesse McCree would ever end up in a place like this with  _ people _ like this, who liked him for who he was. With lovers. Wrapping his arms around his legs, Jesse closed his eyes and sighed in contentment.

Life seemed pretty great right now.

At least until the next day. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooh, is that a cliffhanger? Again, thank you all so much for your support, you have no idea what your lovely comments mean to me. I love you!


	13. Chapter 13

The news hit them like a brick to the face: rogue omnics were attacking small cities in South America, seemingly at random—their numbers not yet clear, but the total was steadily rising. His face taut with concern, Jesse watched the news channel on the TV in the common room with the rest of his comrades. The atmosphere was tense, looking around he saw the same expression. 

“Damn robots.” Ramirez uttered under his breath as he turned away from the news channel, he probably couldn’t stand watching omnics destroy his home country anymore. “If I get my hands on these… _ things _ , I’ll—” But he didn’t finish his sentence, instead he fished in his pocket for a cigarette and moved outside of the room in swift strides. Jesse watched him leave and decided he had seen enough. 

“You will stay.” Gabriel told him again in a secluded part of the giant hangar where people were busy preparing when Jesse argued about why he wasn’t allowed to go with them and fight the omnics. 

“Please, Gabe. Let me come with you, you know I can shoot. Lemme kill these bastards.” Jesse said passionately, his hands formed into fists, but Gabriel simply shook his head. 

“You know I can’t, Jesse.” The words were spoken softly, a gloved hand reached out to him to settle on his shoulder. “You have to stay here, it is a priority mission and no recruits allowed.” Jesse felt like crying, he didn’t want to let them go, not without him. He wanted to  _ help _ , damnit. 

“But—”

“No ‘buts’, recruit.” Rang Jack’s authoritative voice over him making Jesse shut up immediately as he saw him approach in his tactical gear, ready for battle. When he reached them, Jesse pulled himself together as best he could and saluted in a gesture of understanding and compliance. When Jack saw that, his features softened and a sympathetic expression replaced his cold, indifferent mask. “I’m sorry, but orders come from the very top.” He said and Jesse could have sworn he saw something like regret flicker across the man’s face. The knowledge that they actually wanted him there with them was both flattering and depressing, because he simply wasn’t  _ allowed to _ . “There is something else,” With an apologetic expression, Jack looked from Jesse to Gabriel, who inhaled deeply before speaking.

“Dr. Ziegler had to document and report your injury, meaning your... _ transgression _ has to be addressed.” Gabriel told him with a frown. Jesse felt his stomach knot in apprehension when Gabriel sighed and muttered how he hated doing this. “As your commanding officer I have to sentence you to bathroom cleaning duty on floor three and four.”

Internally groaning at that, Jesse managed to keep an unaffected façade, no need to make this entire situation worse by behaving like a little kid. He would take the punishment and do it without complaint—be extra thorough even, Gabriel didn’t need any hassle from anyone because of a misbehaving or poorly working recruit. 

“Understood.” Was all he said and with another salute toward them he watched them go and board a gigantic hover craft a few yards ahead, its loud engine revving to life. He felt a rock settle coldly in his stomach when the machine took off to carry Jack and Gabe to that omnic war zone. “Come back,” He whispered and slouched away.

Rubbing his sleeve over his sweaty brow, Jesse had to sit back on the cold tile of the sixth bathroom he had finished cleaning that day. There were twenty bathrooms in total on floor three and four he had learned, but it hadn’t affected his willingness to clean them all to the best of his ability. With only one short break in between his scouring of the toilets, he had come to be exhausted; not just because of the physical labor, but also from being alone with his thoughts for such a long time. Worry was still making his guts twist.

Before he had started on this last bathroom, he had seen the clock strike six in the afternoon outside in the hallway. This would have to be the last one for the day, he thought and collected all the equipment inside the small trolley he had been given by the not-quite-so-friendly janitor. Pain shot up his spine from being bent over narrow toilets the whole day and he groaned, pushing the small wagon outside and into the supply closet. When his stomach rumbled, he decided on getting supper and then to bed right after. 

He had eaten half of his meal, despite his stomach knotting with worry for Jack and Gabe, when he overheard a conversation at the next table. 

“News say they pushed the omnics back already, but Harrison said that he heard how they’re really struggling to hold the front lines over there.” A woman said to her comrade, whose face was showing signs of worry as well. 

“Wish we could have gone with ‘em, Liz.” The other woman said and pushed at a potato with her fork, Jesse’s last remaining traces of an appetite vanished at that and he watched them with mounting trepidation. 

“I know.” The woman called Liz sighed. “But they’ve already sent back two wounded.” She said and shook her head. “Harrison saw them, engineer Lindholm and a young captain. Maybe we will be sent to aid them eventually.”

Jesse had had enough, he set his plate on the counter for dirty dishes and stormed off to his room.

That night he barely slept, his dreams were haunted by red lights shining maliciously in the dark, alarm sirens and machine gun fire. More than once did he startle awake drenched in sweat, the faint echoes of terrorized screams fading from his mind. His alarm clock read four to five in the morning when he decided to get up. Spending a half hour taking a hot shower helped ease the tension from his muscles at least, his back was still sore from his scrubbing work yesterday, though and he winced when he felt the pain spreading down to his leg as well. 

_ This is nothing compared to what Gabe and Jack are going through _ , he reminded himself and steeled his will to get to work again.  _ God _ , he hoped they were alright. 

After he got the trolley from the supply room, Jesse went to work on the next bathroom, only to run into Jones. The recruit was standing at the sink washing his hands and half smiled at seeing Jesse. The whole omnic affair affected everyone it seemed, and Jones was a close friend of Ramirez who had been very upset the last time Jesse had seen him. 

“How are you and Ramirez holding up?” Jesse asked as he parked the trolley next to a white tiled wall. 

“Ah, we’re doing good compared to the sorry bastards fighting the omnics.” Jones said in a long sigh. “Ramirez filed a request to join them there in his home city, actually. Can’t blame him.” Wiping his almost dry hands on his slacks, Jones stepped away from the sinks. “Who wouldn’t want to fight for what they love?”

Jesse tensed at Jones’ words of truth, they left a bitter taste in his mouth. Self-doubt gnawed at him, as he blindly reached for a rag on his trolley.  _ You should have tried harder,  _ you _ should file a request to join them. _

“But it won’t work, he tried once before and was declined.” Jones informed him, then his eyes landed on the rag in Jesse’s hands, his face turning to a frown. “Are you cleaning the bathroom?”

It was more of a rhetorical question, because it was plainly obvious what Jesse was doing, so he went to explain how he had been hurt—leaving Lambert’s involvement out—and that keeping it a secret was a punishable offence. Jones nodded in understanding and gave Jesse a sympathetic smile before saying goodbye and leaving the bathroom.

_ Time to get to work _ , Jesse thought with a sigh and started wiping down the nearest sink, when he heard one of the stall doors open. Footsteps slowly approached him as he sprayed cleaning agent on a particularly nasty stain.

“Why didn’t you tell him?”

Jesse froze upon hearing Lambert’s voice behind him, anything but this now… Jesse stopped his wiping and turned around to face him, the Frenchman regarded him with a rather guarded expression, arms crossed. 

“Tell him what?” Jesse asked non committedly and decided to let the other do the talking for once. 

“About the circumstances of your injury.” Came the quiet answer, Lambert’s eyes moved to Jesse’s shoulder, but he turned it away from him. 

“What would’ve been the point?” Jesse shrugged and scrubbed at the crusty faucet. “‘Sides, I ain’t no blabbermouth.” The silence hung heavy between them, and because Jesse had his back to Lambert, he thought that maybe he had long since left, but then he heard a small “Thank you,” from across the room. The echo of the bathroom door slamming shut rang in the silence long after Lambert had left. 

His hand stopped, and he looked up in the mirror to the door, then his eyes shifted towards his reflection and he saw the worry he’d felt this whole time etched into his features. This uneasiness was killing him, his hands trembled in that feeling of helplessness. Still, he pushed himself to keep going, putting his back into it and tried to let his inner turmoil fuel the speed of his hand as it was rubbing the hard bristled brush over the dirty tiles behind the closest toilet.

A few more hours had passed, when Jesse had to sit back and take a break from scrubbing the second bathroom that day, his brow was sweaty from the vigorous cleaning he had done, but at least the exhaustion from it helped a little with his anxiety. Hands puffy from the water and chemicals, his face contorted in disgust and he tossed one of the rags into a bucket, then leaned his head back against the wall to close his eyes for a second. The sound of the door opening startled Jesse out of his semi-relaxed state, especially when he saw who it was once more. Mentally preparing for a fight, even though he was too damn exhausted, Jesse was about to get up from the floor. But Lambert’s eyes swept from Jesse to the trolley and without another word he went over to pick up a rag and started to wipe down one of the mirrors. 

Confused, Jesse settled back down. “What are you doing?” He asked.

“You should get something to eat, lunchtime is almost over.” Lambert simply answered, but when Jesse didn’t respond or get up from his spot, he stopped and turned around. “Look, you could have easily told Jones—or anyone else—that you saved me from that landslide and gotten that injury because of me. Hell, you even got into trouble for keeping it a secret. Now, I don’t know if you did that just to protect me, and frankly I don’t want to know,” He made a declining gesture with the rag in his hand. “But you did save me, and my  _ maman _ didn’t raise a rude boy. So let me help you at least.” With that, he turned around again and proceeded the cleaning he had started.

Stunned, Jesse sat in the corner, unsure of what to say. Did that just happen? Watching Lambert for a few more seconds, Jesse realized that this was his way of an apology without having to actually say the words. He smiled.

“Like I said, I ain’t no snitch. It doesn’t mean that I like you, though.” Jesse said.

Lambert’s small smile was visible in the mirror. “That’s fair.” The Frenchman answered and that was the last they spoke for a good thirty minutes, enabling Jesse’s thoughts to go back to Jack and Gabe again. It was then that he realized that he needed company at this time and also something that Lambert had said to him the last time they had spoken.

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.” Jesse began. “On the training mission you said that ‘you didn’t care what he said’. What did’ya mean by that?”

Lambert’s movements slowed and he turned to Jesse once more. “Commander Reyes talked to me the other day.” He said and Jesse felt his belly twist at the mention of Gabriel’s name. “He told me about your history in Deadlock and that you didn’t have it easy.” Jesse felt his throat constrict at the thought of Gabriel thinking that about him. Was he pitying him? 

“I had thought you might have told him to talk to me on your behalf. It felt like a weak attempt to make me feel sympathetic towards you.” Lambert shook his head. “I thought you were a coward, that you could have talked to me yourself.” Lambert sounded apologetic as he said that.

So that was Gabriel’s way of ‘taking care of a problem’, by making it worse. Jesse couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out of him at that. Hesitantly, Lambert joined in.

When their laughter had died down, Lambert scratched his neck uncomfortably.

“I’m sorry I accused you of sleeping with the commander.” Lambert said and Jesse immediately tensed at that, all traces of laughter gone. “You’re obviously not, if he has you do cleaning chores like this.” The other went on, but Jesse knew why Gabe had him do this and it didn’t mean that he didn’t care for him. The punishment could have been way worse. 

“Unless of course, this is a ruse to throw me off,” Lambert joked and already laughed at that, but Jesse didn’t join in.

“Let me stop you right there.” He said and took a deep breath. “The commander and I, we are in fact…” But he didn’t finish, Lambert held up his hand to stop him, that he knew what Jesse meant to say, a rueful smile on his lips. 

“I knew it,” Lambert sighed, but he didn’t seem to be upset about it, which eased the tension Jesse had felt at revealing this huge secret. He didn’t really know why he had told him that, but somehow it had felt right at that moment. Like Lambert deserved the truth for once. Also, Jesse wasn’t ashamed of his feelings, if it was up to him, he’d shout it out for all the world to hear. Gabriel and Jack were the best thing to ever happen to him, he loved them and he was scared for their safety.

“Don’t fret, I’m not going to tell anyone.” Lambert said when he saw Jesse’s face twist with worry and sat down next to him on the floor. “Reyes is a good commander, deserving of respect  _ and  _ privacy.” He concluded and Jesse only nodded with a tight-lipped smile.

“When I had started here in Blackwatch, everyone told me how I’m such a promising recruit and that I’ll be promoted in no time.” Lambert reminisced as he twisted and pulled at the rag still in his hands. “Commander Reyes, he told me much the same and I thought that he might take me under his wing, you know?” Jesse stared at the floor, his heart squeezed in sympathy for Lambert, he knew what it felt like to want this kind of validation from Gabriel. “I had hoped, but it never happened.” Silence hung between them, Jesse waiting for Lambert to finish his story and dreading his appearance in it. “But I was the fool, I can see it now. I should have stood up and ask for what I wanted. So when you arrived, no prior military training at all, of course he helped you.” Sadness rang in his words, Jesse’s thoughts went to those first days, when Gabriel had been a jerk to him because he’d thought Jesse wanted Jack for himself and a small smile played on his lips. How far they had come since then.

“You...must be worried.” Lambert suddenly said and again Jesse’s smile faltered, his anxiety flaring up with the reminder of Gabe’s and Jack’s situation.

“Yeah.” He managed to say before his throat constricted. But that was all they talked about the omnic attack.

“I’m sorry,” Jesse said after a minute or so. “I should have tried to talk to you before.” 

But Lambert shook his head. “I didn’t exactly make it easy for you.” He laughed and Jesse smiled as well. 

And so they ended up talking for some time about their past and their families, and it relaxed Jesse tremendously as it distracted him from his worries because Lambert didn’t mention Gabriel again. If it was out of consideration or disinterest on Lambert’s part, he didn’t know, but he was grateful nonetheless.

* * *

  
An unfamiliar sound woke Jesse in the middle of the night, it was a mixture between beeping and trilling and a little muffled. Rubbing the sleep from his eye, he sat up in his bed and gave the alarm clock a once-over. Two thirty in the morning it read. 

The sound didn’t stop, it started to irritate him, so he turned on the lights and opened the drawer to his bedside table. Its few contents clattered and rolled around with the force of his pulling, pens and empty sweet wrappers, and...his glowing communicator. Jesse stared at it for a minute, the sound of the small earpiece was louder now, beeping incessantly as it wasn’t attached to someone’s head. Then, in one swift motion he grabbed for it, the sound becoming a lot quieter, and when he attached it to his head and pressed the little button to pick up, there was a voice coming from the other side. 

“ _ McCree? _ ” It was Gabriel. Jesse could have wept with joy. 

“—Commander Reyes?” He asked uncertainly, his hand shaking as it pressed the earpiece closer to his ear. 

“ _ There is no need for formalities, this is a private line. _ ” Gabriel said and Jesse could hear the smile in his voice. Closing his eyes, Jesse breathed out slowly. 

“Hey...Gabriel.” He finally said, smiling himself. 

“ _ Hey, Jessito. _ ” Gabriel’s voice was kind, deep and beautiful, even through the line across the globe. Jesse’s heart beat strongly in his chest, how he longed for him now. “ _ Are you alright? _ ” Gabriel sounded concerned. 

Jesse huffed a small laugh that bordered on a sob. “I should be asking  _ you _ that. But I’m fine.” He said and bit his lip. 

“ _ We’re doing good, considering. _ ” Gabriel said, and Jesse could hear faint sounds in the background. “ _ We managed to hold the bastards on the last border so far. A lot got wounded, but we are expecting reinforcements from Germany soon. The crusaders will help us in pushing them back, we hope. _ ”

Jesse nodded, then remembered that Gabriel couldn’t see him. “Okay…” Was all he came up with. “‘S there an end in sight, then?” 

“ _ I sure hope so. _ ” Gabriel said jokingly and they both laughed a little, albeit a bit cautious. The line got quiet then, the silence was oppressing and Jesse wanted to keep Gabriel talking to him for as long as possible.

“I miss you and Jack.” Jesse blurted out, his face heating at this confession, but he meant it. 

“ _ We miss you too, Jesse _ .” Gabriel sighed and Jesse felt his heart twist at the sound of sadness in his voice. 

“ _ Give me that, Gabe. _ ” He heard someone else say faintly and suddenly there was rustling and clanking on the line.

“ _ Hey there, sweetheart. _ ” Jack’s baritone sounded from the earpiece and Jesse’s face split into a grin at his choice of words.    


“Hmm, I like the sound o’ that, darlin’.” Jesse drawled as he could hear Gabriel scoffing in the background.

Jack laughed good naturedly. “ _ Figured you would. _ ” Damn, but he really needed this now, to at least talk to them while they were so far away. To joke with them like they were not in mortal peril. 

“It’s so nice to hear ya, thanks for callin’ me. Really.” Jesse said and closed his eyes.

“ _ Hey, Gabe and I still have each other here. You must be lonely without us. _ ”

“What, you think I don’t have friends?” Jesse asked in mock offense. But it was true, even though he had all these people around him, he felt lonely. This thing with Gabe and Jack was still so new, a flame burning so hot, it outshined anything else at the moment. “Just hurry and  come back...please.” Jesse finished and wiped at his face. 

“ _ Someone’s impatient. _ ” Jesse could practically hear the wink in Jack’s voice. He couldn’t help the laugh that escaped him at that.

“Can’t help it. Got a taste and now I’m cravin’ more.” Whoa, where did that come from?

There was a pause and the only thing Jesse heard was the faint noises in the background and his own heart beating in insecurity.

“ _ Is that so? _ ” Jack’s voice had taken on an even deeper timbre, it sent a delicious spark down Jesse’s spine. “ _ Are you being good while we’re away? _ ” There was a playfulness in Jack’s voice that immediately conjured a grin to Jesse’s face. 

“On my best behaviour, Sir.” He answered and almost felt compelled to salute.

“ _ I know. You always are. _ ” Something inside Jesse stirred at Jack’s purred words of praise. Heat was spreading inside him, down to his groin. “ _ Are you alone? _ ”

He was indeed alone. Jannik was off on some special night time training the second day in a row now. 

“I am.” He croaked and held his breath in anticipation.

“ _ What are you wearing? _ ” Jesse froze. Was Jack going with this where he thought he was? Excitement made Jesse restless, he got up from the bed to make sure his door was locked. 

“Uh, just a shirt and boxers.” He blushed and scratched his beard as he looked down himself. 

“ _ Jack, give me that.” _ Jesse could hear Gabriel complain, but apparently Jack wasn’t finished yet.

“ _ Hm, what I’d do with you if I were there. _ ” Jack’s voice trailed off, making Jesse’s pulse quicken. When Jack didn’t elaborate, Jesse found he  _ really _ wanted to know. 

“Well...what would you do?” It was an almost breathless question. 

“ _ I’d have you on your bunk bed right now, shedding those clothes in no time. _ ” How Jack managed to sound so sinfully hot over Gabriel’s complaints in the background, Jesse wasn’t sure. But his voice had this effect on him. “ _ Would you like that? _ ”

Holy shit.

“Yes...Sir.” Jesse managed a weak whisper after sitting down on his bed again, his left hand fisting the sheets beneath him. This side to Jack, this  _ Commander Morrison  _ side, it was the hottest shit ever, and Jesse simply loved going with its flow like this. Closing his eyes, he imagined exactly what Jack was describing to him. He could feel his cock stir in interest and he swallowed loudly. 

“ _ Once I’d gotten you out of those, I’d touch and kiss you everywhere. _ ” Jack went on, Gabriel’s complaints had stopped for now, maybe he was as interested in where this was going as Jesse. He tried to stay quiet, wanting to hear everything Jack had to say and thus suppressed the little moan that was trying to break free.

“ _ I’d make sure your hands and mouth are busy while I get you all hot and bothered. _ ”

Jesse bit his lip as he thought about sucking Jack’s dick, his breathing was becoming quicker by the second.

“ _ I’d turn you around on your stomach so I could kiss your perk little ass. _ ” Jack rasped and Jesse could hear how his dirty talk affected himself as well. He sounded strained, his breathing had picked up just a little and it also sounded like there was movement on the other end of the line. “ _ Make you loose and wet. _ ” 

Jesse squirmed on his bed, his pants had become uncomfortably tight, but no change in his position helped.

“Jack, you’re killin’ me…” Jesse whispered and concentrated on his breathing.

“ _ Why don’t you relax a little, lean back and unwind. I think we all need this right now. _ ” 

And so this was what Jesse did, he consciously relaxed his body, his shoulders went down, his neck bent backwards and he focused on his pulsing dick. He was so turned on.

“Alright…” He breathed and closed his eyes. 

“ _There we go.”_ Jack said, then he moaned lightly, making Jesse wonder what was going on at their end. “ _Now, where was I?_ ” He hissed in pleasure between sentences, then seemed to remember. “ _Right, I’d eat you out and then, when you’re a horny mess_ —” Another small moan. _“—I’d fuck you so nicely and thoroughly, you’d forget your own name._ ”

Jesse was lost. “Fuck.” He whined pathetically and his hand flew to his straining erection, he needed to touch himself, to alleviate the pressure on his dick, so he pulled down his boxers and freed himself. As soon as his hand grabbed a hold of his cock, he moaned loudly into the microphone.

“Hn, Jack… I want—” Jesse began, but had to stop for a second when he had found the perfect rhythm on his dick. Face scrunched up in concentration and wanton, Jesse leaned his head against the wall to press the earpiece closer so he could hear Jack getting off as well. Was he pleasuring himself, or was Gabriel doing it? Shit, just thinking about those two together made his mind go crazy with lust. “What is Gabe doin’?” He asked, then heard Jack exhale in a small laugh. 

“ _ Hmm, he’s sucking me off so nicely, Jesse. You have no idea. _ ” 

Oh holy mother of Jesus. Jesse could see it right before his mind’s eye: Gabriel’s dark head bobbing up and down between Jack’s golden thighs and Jack feeling along the other’s buzz cut with big hands while he was dirty talking to Jesse. He could also picture the expression on Jack’s face, laden with pleasure and abandon. 

“ _ He has such a gorgeous mouth, don’t you think? _ ” Jack’s breathing was becoming increasingly heavier, Jesse subconsciously adjusted the speed of his stroking to it.

“Fuck yes, he’s so  _ beautiful _ .” Jesse agreed with a whine, Gabriel was a work of art. “Wish I was with you.” Emotion warred with his lust, creating a vortex of feeling which rendered him speechless for a second.

“ _ We will be with you again, very soon and take care of you, sweetheart. _ ” Jack promised breathily, and Jesse wanted to believe it so badly, that a tear ran down his cheek. “ _ We’ll fuck all night long. Shit, I swear we are going to need a week off after it. _ ”

Jesse bit his lip, Jack’s words renewed the vigour in his strokes and he could feel his orgasm approaching.

“ _ Are you close? _ ”

Jesse whimpered. “Yes, Sir…”

“ _ Good boy. Then come for me, Jesse. I want to hear you. _ ” And that was what sent Jesse into a frenzy and right over the edge. He spilled his release all over his hand and boxers, but kept stroking through it as he moaned long and hard. On the other end, Jack was making much the same noises as him as Gabriel must have succeeded in getting him off, too. He listened intently, heard Jack’s breathing as it was slowly evening out and the rustling of clothes, Gabriel’s deep voice whispering to Jack and Jack murmuring back sweet nothings. It was almost as if they were here with him. 

“ _ Hey, you alright? _ ” Jack asked lightly after a few seconds of silence.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m alright.” Jesse sighed and laid his arm across his brow as he lay back into his pillow.

“ _ Did we manage to make you feel a little better now? _ ” Again, Jesse was sure Jack was smiling as he asked him this and Jesse snickered. 

“You know, imagining you and Gabriel while jerking off is nothing new to me. But somehow, this time was better than usual.” He quipped and waited for Jack’s reaction with a sly grin.

“ _ Did you hear that, Gabe? Jesse thinks about us while masturbating. _ ” Jack said in mock surprise and soon there was the telltale rusting and clanking of the communicator being passed to someone else once more. 

“ _ You think about me while beating your meat? _ ” Gabriel deadpanned and Jesse laughed in response.

“I have a crush on you, remember?” Jesse joked in reference to their conversation in Gabriel’s bed. 

“ _ I remember you telling me how ‘Jesse McCree doesn’t do crushes.’ _ ” Gabriel teased him. 

“Well, maybe I changed my mind.” 

“ _ You mean  _ I _ changed your mind. _ ” He could hear Gabriel’s smirk in the way he said it. 

“Okay, fine.  _ You _ changed my mind.” Jesse admitted begrudgingly. “There was no way I could withstand your charm.” He let his wink sound through his voice. 

“ _ I’m sorry, I tend to have that effect on people. You simply stood no chance. _ ” Gabriel tsked and then Jesse could hear Jack in the background. 

“ _ Let him sleep already, Gabe. _ ”

“ _ What, you get to have steamy phone sex with him and I can only banter a few seconds? _ ” Gabriel grumbled to himself but apparently agreed that Jesse needed his sleep because the next thing he said was a long, drawn out good night in Spanish, with various nicknames and endearments in between. When he was finished, Jesse’s cheeks hurt from smiling so much. 

“Thank you. You sleep well too,  _ mi amado _ [my beloved].”

His Spanish had the desired effect. Gabriel had gone really quiet, Jesse bit his lip in anticipation. Had he dared too much? Was his expression over the top? He had never spoken Spanish to him before, maybe he butchered the pronunciation.

“ _ Jesse _ ,” Gabriel’s voice sounded hoarse. “ _ Don’t you do this when I’m about to hang up. _ ”

Grinning in triumph, Jesse felt pure joy in his heart at Gabriel’s flustered response. 

“ _ Just you wait when I get back. _ ” He said. “ _ You’ll have to say this to my face. _ And  _ deal with the consequences. _ ” Gabriel promised darkly and it sent a pleasant shiver down Jesse’s spine. 

“I hope you keep your word, then.” Jesse remarked and smiled to himself. “Have a good night, Gabe.” He finished and Gabriel chuckled. 

“ _ See you soon,  _ mi amado _. _ ” Gabriel rasped Jesse’s words back at him and then the line went dead.

The communicator lay in his hand, no longer alight or making a sound, but he was still smiling. He had really needed that, how he missed them so. And hearing them safe and sound was balm to his soul. After putting the comm back into the drawer, Jesse got up and washed himself. Then he got a new pair of boxers to replace his soggy ones. When he was back in his bed, he drew the covers over himself, snuggled right into them and fell asleep thinking about how Jack would surely return the favour to Gabriel right about now. 


	14. Chapter 14

Two more weeks had passed since that call from Jack and Gabriel. Jesse had managed to complete his task in cleaning the remaining bathrooms and attended regular training in the meantime, trying his hardest to get his mind off his worries with body numbing physical activity. It worked in so far that he fell into bed every night, his mind going out like a light and slipping right into blissful sleep. But whenever he woke the next morning it was to a feeling of trepidation, worries that he might get bad news from the front lines. Fortunately, there were no bad news—on the contrary—official reports stated their troops’ success in finally pushing back the omnics with the help of the crusaders about six days ago.

It made Jesse’s heart feel lighter for sure, made him confident in the safe return of his lovers. What also helped were the two other calls he got from Gabriel and Jack, assuring him that they were fine and that they’d be back soon. There hadn’t been any naughty bits anymore though, the two had to be very quick about their business and so it had been a little bit of bantering, but that was just as good to Jesse as that first initial call had been.

The last short call was over four days ago now, and Jesse couldn’t help but worry _again_. He was quite sick of it, if he was honest. Not only was it draining, but it dampened his spirits so far that he had started isolating himself in his room whenever he could. Jannik was still absent most of the time, seeing as he was taking the night ops training sessions and slept during the day, leaving Jesse to his thoughts while the other snored in his bed. Even Jones and Ramirez had invited him to play a round of pool with thinly veiled concern, but Jesse had declined, saying his training had been too intense and he needed rest. At least that had been true to a certain extent, he absolutely didn’t like lying to them.

Another day was coming to an end and Jesse was just wrapping up today’s training that had been nothing short of running and running until he couldn’t feel his legs anymore. As he came to a stop beside the racetrack to catch his breath, Ramirez jogged up to him from the side with an excited look on his face.

“Did you hear? They’re back!” He exclaimed, a little out of breath and Jesse didn’t need to hear more to know what he was talking about. Jesse had to compose himself in order not to freak out at the prospect of finally seeing the two commanders again and simply clapped Ramirez on the shoulder, but on the inside he was feeling butterflies threatening to burst from his belly.

“About damn time.” He muttered and made a beeline to the showers. Divesting his clothing in record time, Jesse entered the showers and cleaned himself as quickly—but thoroughly—as possible, all the while his heart was jumping in joy. They were back, _finally back_!

His hair had to make do with only being toweled off roughly as he was already climbing into his sweatpants and slipped into a black t-shirt. The sweaty clothes were dumped in the giant laundry basket and off he was, his heart hammering in his chest. Just as he was about to head in the direction of the commanders’ offices, he heard a low whistle behind him.

“ _Ay, bonito_ [hey, cutie], aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” Gabriel cat-called him, Jesse’s face split into the biggest grin when he saw him. Gabriel was half hidden in shadow, casually leaning against the wall, arms crossed und had a wolfish grin on his face. Forgetting everything else around him, Jesse ran toward his commander and practically jumped into his arms. They were holding each other for an entire minute, Jesse fighting the tears of joy welling up from his eyes and Gabriel clutching at him like a drowning man.

“Hm, you smell nice.” Gabe remarked, his nose buried in Jesse’s neck.

Jesse himself took a long whisk of the other and came to the same conclusion.

“And you smell like sweat and gunpowder.” Jesse snickered. “My favourite.”

Gabriel chuckled at that, ruffling Jesse’s still wet hair. “I smell gross, I know.”

They were still holding each other, Jesse just couldn’t find it in himself to stop just yet, it was too good to hold Gabe, balm to his soul.

When Jesse was finally able to let go, at least to look him in the eyes, he laughed to distract from his wet eyes.

“Fuck, I—I _missed_ you!” Jesse sniffed and squeezed Gabriel’s forearms, still unbelieving that he was finally back. The soft look on Gabe’s face was enough to make Jesse sob in utter affection for him, but he managed to stay somewhat composed.

“I missed you too, Jessito.” Gabe murmured as his hand came up to caress Jesse’s cheek lovingly, which the latter used as an opportunity to lean into the man’s gloved palm. Gabriel was still in his tactical gear, complete with combat boots and kevlar vest, he must have come here directly after they had touched down. Before Jesse could think more about this, Gabriel closed the distance between them and gave him the softest of kisses.

They pulled apart with equally pleased smiles on their faces, when Jesse looked around himself in search of someone.

“Where’s Jack?” He asked good naturedly, but his own smile faltered when he saw Gabriel’s expression turn into a frown.

“Jack has been hurt.” Gabriel said very quietly and immediately Jesse felt like hot lead had been poured into his stomach. _No, oh please no_.

“What happened, is he alright?” Jesse couldn’t keep the worry out of his voice, but Gabriel laid his arm around his shoulder comfortingly and started walking. 

“He’s fine, but he is still in the medical wing, Dr. Ziegler is with him. He was shot by one of the omnics.” Gabriel told him calmly, and it did soothe Jesse’s initial panic somewhat to hear that the doc was with Jack. Slowly, Gabriel steered Jesse in the direction of the medical facilities, his arm still around his shoulders and Jesse’s around the other man’s waist. It was the most intimate touching they had ever done in public and it felt so damn good to do it. To an outsider it might have looked like good friends walking together, but Jesse knew it was so much more. Momentarily closing his eyes to finally let the fact they were back sink in, Jesse pulled Gabriel closer to him and the latter tightened his hold on Jesse’s shoulder in turn, even placed a kiss on top of the youth’s head. “He’s gonna be fine.” Gabriel reassured him and Jesse knew that to be the truth.

They reluctantly parted before entering the medical wing, to be greeted by Dr. Ziegler, who told them about Jack’s condition.

“Commander Reyes,” She inclined her head in greeting, then her eyes fell on Jesse with a somewhat questioning look. “Recruit McCree.” She was probably wondering what business Jesse had to see the Strike Commander in his sick bed.

Jesse couldn’t help himself and winked at her. “Ma’am.” He greeted back and saw Gabriel roll his eyes from his peripheral when Dr. Ziegler laughed lightly and shook her head, then she directed them to Jack’s sick room.

“The wound was pretty deep, but he was lucky that it missed any vital organs.” She explained as her hand landed on the touch panel outside of the room. “He can leave tomorrow, but he still has to take things slowly for at least three days. He’s still on morphine from the bullet extraction process, so keep that in mind.” She went on, a stern look on her beautiful face before she sighed. “Just make sure he’s not overexerting himself, Gabriel.” She finished and Jesse was momentarily startled by how she’d used Gabriel’s first name. So far he’d never heard anyone use it besides Jack and himself, and it made the good doctor appear in a different light all of a sudden. Like her and Gabe had a history together. But… hadn’t they been working together on base for years now? Of course they were familiar and judging by the frequency with which Gabe and Jack got into trouble, they surely had had their fill of visits to the med bay. He liked that the doc seemed to care about them even beyond her duties as a medical doctor.

Jesse was pulled from his musings when the door to the sick room slid open with a hiss and revealed a hospital bed occupied by none other than Strike Commander Jack Morrison himself, seated upright and looking cheerful like he was welcoming them for tea.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it then.” Dr. Ziegler said in good bye and was already gone before Jesse could utter so much as a short ‘Bye, doc.’

Gabriel had moved to the foot of the bed, a sad smile on his handsome face. Jack’s torso was bare, save for a big bandage covering his abdomen and Jesse was reminded how, even though they were super soldiers, they were still _human_ and very much mortal. Somehow, he didn’t know what to do, a big part of him just wanted to run up to the man and embrace him like he had done with Gabriel, but another part of him wanted to make sure not to hurt him and give him the time to recover. You couldn’t bear hug an injured, right?

“Hey,” he chose to say, clenching his hands into fists by his sides, thinking that he did this wrong for sure. In his mind his reasoning sounded good to him, but Jack couldn’t know what he was thinking now, could he? And his suspicions were confirmed in Jack’s expression of confusion by Jesse’s unenthusiastic greeting.

Just when Jesse wanted to explain himself, Jack extended a hand towards him, a half smile tugging at his lips and Jesse immediately accepted by laying his own hand in it.

Suddenly Jesse was pulled into Jack, he stumbled forward but was caught half atop the man so the latter could talk right into his ear.

“Are you being _shy_ now, Jesse sweetheart?” Jack teased him and nosed at Jesse’s cheek fondly as Jesse was sitting down on the bed. The nickname reminded him of the first time Jack had used it, when their talking had turned into _steamy phone sex_ , as Gabriel had called it, and Jesse blushed at the memory. Warmth radiated from Jack, Jesse could feel it through his thin cotton shirt and he wondered if that was a result of the SEP as well.

He huffed an awkward laugh at his botched greeting and angled his head so he could kiss Jack with the intention of showing him that Jesse McCree was not shy by any means. Especially not around his lovers.

With a pleased hum, Jack wound his arms around the youth and kissed him back just as lovingly and Jesse felt his heart swell with emotion once more. Pulling away from _Jack The Furnace Morrison_ was hard, but Jesse managed and smiled fondly at him, his hand brushed over the bandage cautiously.

“‘M sorry, it’s just…the doc told us to make sure you’re taking it slow and I didn’t wanna do somethin’ wrong…” Jesse trailed off in his explanation, his eyes observing what his hand was doing on Jack’s abdomen. At Jack’s small chuckle, Jesse looked up.

“You don’t have to worry about me, Jesse.” Jack told him like it was the most natural thing in the world. “I’m going to be fine. It was just one bullet, I’ve had way worse.” He said with a wink and the confidence in his words really made Jesse feel better.

“How’d it happen?” Jesse asked.

“Well, we were in this collapsed building full of destroyed omnics, Gabe and I, scouting behind the already relatively quiet front lines to find out if there was some kind of base they were operating from.” Jack’s face had taken on a more serious expression. “But all we found was a not quite yet destroyed omnic which opened fire as soon as we had happened upon it and here I am.” He pointed to the bandage with a hand and left the rest unsaid. Jesse chewed on the inside of his bottom lip as his mind provided visual representation of what Jack had just described to him. How the half-dead omnic had probably raised its machine gun arm to shoot at the hated humans. If Jesse hadn’t felt contempt for those omnics already, he surely would now.

With a great sigh, Jesse looked up from Jack to Gabriel, who was still standing where he had been when he had first come inside the sick room, arms crossed and a slight frown on his face as he was studying Jack.

“You were supposed to look out for him, Gabe.” Jesse jokingly accused him, hoping that the man would get the small jab and not be mad at him for saying it. The reaction he got was quite different from what he had expected, though. Gabriel gave Jack a meaningful look.

“Actually, it was Jack who quite literally took the bullet for me.” He said to Jesse, while still maintaining eye contact with Jack, who had a small satisfied smile on his face that spoke volumes.

“And I’d do it again.” Jack said with conviction, leaving no room for doubt about the sincerity of his words. Silence fell between the three at that, Jesse’s thoughts again coming to the realization that this could very well be happening in future, maybe sooner than anyone thought and he would be left behind again. Unless—

“I’m gonna become an agent of Blackwatch as soon as possible.” Jesse spoke up, looking first at Gabe, who still wore a frown, and then at Jack, who beamed at him. “It’s clear you two need a third set of eyes to keep you from harm.” He explained with a cocky grin and watched Gabriel’s lip reluctantly curl in a small smile. “You’re obviously getting too comfortable out there. Need someone to spice things up, keep you on your toes.”

“The next evaluation is in two months.” Gabriel piped in, eyes squinting behind dark lashes. “You think you can do it, Jesse?”

“Of course he can.” Jack spoke for Jesse with the same enthusiasm with which he had convinced them of his well-being earlier. Jesse turned his head to him and nodded vigorously, watching Jack study him intently with those blue eyes of his. “He can do anything he puts his mind to.” Jack half whispered, then reached out to the younger man with both hands to pull him into his lap. Before Jesse could even begin to read into what those words of confidence meant, he found himself seated atop Jack, straddling his hips and the man’s hands were roaming over his back and sides, one dipping beneath the hem of his shirt and the other in his hair when he was pulled forward into another kiss.

Jesse pulled away though when he heard the small pained groan erupting from Jack. He was pressing directly into the bandaged wound with his weight where he sat and gasped at the realization.

“You hair is wet.” The blond remarked out of the blue and Jesse told him that he had just taken a shower. Jack’s pupils dilated at that and he gave a throaty sound as he kissed Jesse again, grinding his hips up with a very prominent erection that poked Jesse in the butt. Apparently he didn’t mind the pain this must surely cause him, Jesse shuddered at the focus Jack had on what he desired.

“ _Jesus_ , Jack. You’re horny when you’re on drugs.” Gabriel snickered as he came up beside them to gently disentangle Jesse from Jack’s grasp. With a pout, Jack let go of the young man who stood between the two sheepishly, cheeks flushed.

“You’re in no condition to fool around. Doctor’s orders.” Gabriel reminded Jack as he grasped the blond’s chin in his hand and bent down to give him a quick peck. “We’re gonna leave you to get some rest now. We’ll be back tomorrow to pick you up.” He promised and with a last lingering caress, he went to the sick room’s door, pulling a flustered Jesse with him, who shouted a quick “See you tomorrow, darlin’!” at which Jack laughed.

“Bye bye, sweetheart!” Jack called back, even blew him a kiss, which earned him a groan from Gabriel. But Jesse just grinned, happy to know that Jack was going to be okay.

Once outside of the sick room, Gabriel seemed to deflate a bit, Jesse noticed but didn’t mention anything. Only when they were well outside of the medical wing did he take a hold of the other’s hand, his heart beating excitedly in his chest. Gabe looked at him sideways and squeezed his hand with a smile at which Jesse blushed again. Damnit, they had made out and even gone _beyond_ that and here he was blushing at the smallest gestures of affection. But he’d be lying if he said he didn’t _eat it all up_.

His belly could finally stop knotting in worry, the touch he had on Gabriel was grounding and reminding him of the reality that they were, in fact, back safe and _somewhat_ sound. He had noticed their way led them to Jesse’s room, but he opted to once again say nothing. When they came to stop in front of his door and Gabriel moved to stand in front of him, Jesse saw the sheer weariness on his face, how his eyes drooped and his mouth was twisted in a frown he probably wasn’t even aware of. It filled Jesse’s heart with sympathy for him, kindled the flame that wanted to do anything to make Gabriel feel better, no matter what it was. Surely, all that Gabriel wanted now was to fall in his bed and sleep.

An idea popped into Jesse’s head.

“Come on,” He said excitedly with a lopsided grin and opened his door to pull Gabriel along, whose face lit up at Jesse’s enthusiasm. He probably thought Jesse wanted to sleep with him. Well, the night was going to involve _sleeping_ , that was for sure.

Once inside, Jesse pushed Gabriel against the closed door and smothered him in kisses, which the other gladly accepted. Then, pulling at the strings of the man’s hoodie, Jesse guided them towards his bed. Apparently, Gabriel liked this side to Jesse which took the initiative, he bit his lip suggestively, making it very hard for Jesse to go through with his initial plan.

“Lie down.” Jesse instructed and pushed on Gabriel’s chest lightly, the latter had a sexy grin on his face, even though his eyes showed that he was tired beyond belief.

“You’re bossy tonight.” Rumbled Gabriel, looking up at Jesse from where he was seated on the bed.

It struck Jesse then that Gabriel was willing to do this for him, even though he was physically and emotionally exhausted. Gabriel thought Jesse wanted sex and he was willing to provide. Something tugged at Jesse’s heart then, and it steeled his will to do something nice for him. “On your belly.” He whispered seductively, staying in character, and Gabriel only chuckled but did as he was told with a raised eyebrow.

“I hope you have lube, then.” Gabriel mumbled into his crossed arms which lay beneath his head, so he could look at Jesse from the side.

Trying to look past what his mind imagined at that, Jesse shook his head.

“Something else,” He said to himself and moved to the bathroom to yank open the cabinet he shared with Jannik. And there was the baby oil his roommate used for ‘his dry skin’ as he liked to say. Thanking Jannik in his mind he went back to his bed, where Gabriel was still lying with his eyes closed. He looked so peaceful, like he was already asleep. Jesse approached him carefully, his hand lightly touching Gabriel’s neck to test if he was indeed asleep. When the man opened one eye and smiled at him lazily Jesse once again felt something tug at his heart strings.

How he loved him, _so fuckin much_. Emotion made his throat constrict and apparently it was evident on his face too, because Gabriel squinted at him like he was asking what was wrong. But Jesse swallowed it down and smiled reassuringly.

Not wasting any more time, Jesse went to straddle Gabriel’s thighs and deposited the bottle of baby oil on the mattress. He bent forward to whisper in Gabriel’s ear that he had to help him one last time as he was pushing his hoodie upwards. Gabriel grunted in understanding and propped himself up to remove his kevlar vest and the hoodie, giving Jesse bedroom eyes. But just as Gabriel was surging in for a kiss, did Jesse push him down again with an “uh-uh” and smiled mysteriously.

Seemingly confused, Gabriel relented and laid his head back on his crossed arms, his eyes drifting shut again. At the crack of the baby oil’s lid, he looked behind himself one last time, but Jesse was already pouring the room temperature oil onto his broad back.

Jesse pulled up his sleeves and went to work, his hands collected the oil in the dip that was the small of Gabriel’s back and smoothed it over his tan skin. Then, when he finally started to actually massage his muscles, Gabriel gave the most arousing moan he had ever heard.

“Oh, Jesse. This—hng, this is _amazing_.” Gabriel told him and visibly relaxed under Jesse’s hands which were gliding over his skin and hard muscle, he could feel all the knots in his shoulders and tried his best to massage them away.

Doing this for him was exactly what they both needed right now. A little pick-me-up for the commander and something to soothe Jesse’s soul.

Gabriel grunted when Jesse hit a particular spot on his right neck muscle. “Yes, right there.” He said breathlessly and Jesse couldn’t help the grin on his face. It felt so unbelievably good to do this for him. While he was kneading the man’s muscles, he could feel his nicely shaped plump butt against his groin and it did nothing to quell the simmering desire for him, especially with the moans and grunts accompanying Jesse’s every move. But he would not have Gabriel do anything anymore today, he would make sure that the commander got a good night’s sleep and to help with that he would massage his stress away. Nothing more.

The longer Jesse was working, the more Gabriel was melting into the mattress, and talking less, only a few sounds of approval were heard and short words of praise. Gabriel had fallen into Spanish at one point, he was probably too far gone to notice.

“ _Chévere_ . [Great]” He mumbled half asleep. “ _Sí_...[Yes]”

Jesse kept going, but his kneading was becoming softer, he kept stroking along the strong back muscles which were now finally starting to completely relax, and outward to his equally bulky arms, marvelling at the strength contained in them.

“ _Gracias_ . [Thanks]” Gabriel sighed, then almost inaudibly. “ _Te amo, Jessito_...[Love you, Jessito]”

Jesse froze.

He had ceased all movement, his hands were still lying on Gabriel’s warm back, slick and shiny with oil and he just stared at the side of his peaceful face. The man was out cold, soft breathing making his chest rise and fall, and Jesse was left with what he had just told him.

_Te amo._

Unsure of what to do, Jesse stayed in that position for two more heart beats, then he removed his hands and climbed off of the man as gently as possible, so as not to wake him. All the while his thoughts kept racing around those two words, what they could mean, fearful he might interpret too much into them, but also so _hopeful_ that Gabriel had actually meant what he had said in his sleepy state. As he stood next to the sleeping figure on his bed, Jesse contemplated what to do. He would let Gabriel sleep in his bed and instead he would use Jannik’s, his roommate wasn’t going to come soon anyway.

With deft hands, Jesse removed Gabriel’s heavy combat boots and covered him with his blanket. This was nice, taking care of Gabriel like that. Another smile stole over Jesse’s face as he watched him in peaceful slumber in his bed, that love he felt for him swelling his chest and making it hard to leave him alone.

 _Te amo_.

He would never forget the sound of those words.

The bedside table alarm clock read eleven in the evening and Jesse decided to call it a day, Jannik’s bed was just as comfortable as his when he crawled inside, on the inside he was yearning to snuggle with Gabe instead, to be in the same bed. But the recruit’s beds had only enough width to hold one person at a time and he was not going to make Gabriel share a too small bed with him. As he covered himself with the comforter, he stole another glance at the other.

“Good night, Gabe.” Jesse said quietly and let his eyes close while listening to the other’s even breathing. “I love you, too.” He whispered into the darkness, certain that Gabriel hadn’t heard him and fell asleep.

 

* * *

 

“Oh.”

Jesse’s eyes shot open, momentarily confused about why the room looked so different, but quickly remembering that he was in Jannik’s bed and he viewed the room from an unusual perspective. This revelation, in turn, made him look in the direction of his own bed, and there was Gabriel struggling to sit up in Jesse’s bed.

“Commander Reyes. I, uh—I just…”

Finally, Jesse’s eyes fell on Jannik, who was standing in front of the closed door, his duffel bag dropped beside him and looking between Gabriel and Jesse in mild horror.

 _Oh_.

“Hey, Jannik. How are things?” Jesse tried to calm his roommate down and swung his legs out of bed to come to his side. Shit, Gabriel would definitely not be happy about this. “How was your night ops training?” With an arm around Jannik’s shoulders, Jesse steered him outside of their room again, then outside, he dropped his nonchalant façade. “Look, I’m sorry you walked in on...this. The commander had visited me to talk and then we fell asleep.” It sounded lame even to his own ears, but he didn’t want Jannik to think they had fucked in Jesse’s bed, or worse, in Jannik’s. The last Jannik had known about his relationship status with the commanders was when Jesse had shared a kiss with them for the first time. There had simply never been an opportune time to get him up-to-date and Jesse found it weird to just breach the subject out of the blue.

Well, now was a good a time as any, right? He sighed.

“Jesse, it’s fine. I knew you and the commander have something going on, I just never expected to...see any of that, I guess.” Jannik laughed awkwardly, his hand resting reassuringly on his roommate’s shoulder.

“Still, I’m sorry you got dragged into an awkward situation like that. He’s your commander, too. And I wouldn’t want either of you to be uncomfortable around each other.” Jesse told him with a look towards the closed door.

“Hey, it’s really none of my business what either of you do in your spare time. I was just startled, is all.” Jannik laughed and picked up his duffel bag he had dragged back outside with him when Jesse had pushed him through the door. “I’m gonna use the communal showers and then I’ll come back. Surely, you two will have your _business_ wrapped up by then.” With a suggestive eyebrow wiggle, Jannik waved Jesse goodbye and was off.

Hoping the disturbance hadn’t irritated Gabriel too much, Jesse went back inside the dorm to find him on his bed, still half undressed and a questioning look on his well rested face.

“So, who else knows about us?” Gabriel asked him as he stood up to tower above him and crossed his arms, his muscles bulging.

“Oh, it’s just Jannik.”

Gabriel didn’t look convinced.

“...aaand Lambert.”

“Wha—Lambert? He knows?” Gabriel had uncrossed his arms at that, his face showing signs of worry.

“Yeah, but it’s fine. We talked and, I dunno, he is not as bad as I thought. He said he’s not gonna ruin it for you, because you are a good commander and deserve happiness.” Jesse stated matter-of-factly, even shrugged his shoulders.

Gabriel gave him a sceptical look. “Now I know you’re shitting me, Jesse. No way did Lambert say that.”

But Jesse only chuckled and approached Gabriel once he was done making his bed, managing to look him in the eyes instead of ogling him. “Believe it or not, he said it.” Just then the rest of their conversation replayed in Jesse’s mind, how Lambert had told him about his hopes of being tutored by Gabriel and the look he had had in his eyes. “You should really give him the opportunity to prove himself, like you did for me with the training mission. Who knows, maybe he’ll surprise you.”

Gabriel’s eyes had turned to slits. “What the fuck happened while we were away?” He said with an air of incredulity at which Jesse laughed.

“Nothing for you to worry about, now let’s go get Jack, shall we?” He said, but was stopped by Gabriel’s hand on his forearm.

“Wait a sec. Let me take a shower first, I positively _reek_.” Gabriel said in distaste and was already on his way towards the small bathroom, unbuckling his belt. Just when Gabriel was about to drop his pants, he looked over his shoulder and made sure to make a show of it. He practically peeled them off himself, revealing his toned butt and legs, at which Jesse’s mouth went dry.

“I will need fresh clothes.” Gabriel called out after he had kicked his pants to the side, already stepping inside the small shower and out of Jesse’s view. Now with the distraction that was _Gabriel The Adonis Reyes_ gone, Jesse went to pick an outfit from his own clothes for him to wear. Although Jesse himself had put on quite some weight in the form of muscle mass and his clothes had increased in size as well, he still feared that they would fit Gabriel only _very_ _tightly_. Not that he’d mind though...

After rummaging through his sparse wardrobe, he managed to find sweatpants and a sweater big enough to fit _Gabriel The Bulk Reyes_. At least he hoped so.

When he was about to deposit the items on his bed for Gabriel to put on, he heard the water of the shower turn off. Feeling giddy with excitement at seeing Gabriel naked again, Jesse went to sit down on his bed, right next to where he had put the clothes, legs crossed and the biggest grin on his face.

Gabriel stepped out of the shower, Jesse could see the water drops running down his glorious body, how his skin glistened in the artificial light of the small bulb in the bathroom and the simple elegance of his movements when he reached for a towel to dry himself off. Jesse could stare at _Gabriel Poetry In Motion Reyes_ forever and never be bored. And he was positive he’d never run out of descriptive names for him either.

“You’re drooling.” Gabriel remarked dryly as he was rubbing his scalp and ears last, then he threw the towel around his neck, grabbing both ends on either side of it, stepping languidly out of the bathroom with bare feet until he reached Jesse who now had an excellent view of his body, and specifically, groin due to their difference in height.

“What can I say. I’m a simple man,” Jesse whispered and reached out to cup Gabriel’s butt with both hands and pulled him closer, maintaining eye contact for the moment.

They held each other’s gazes for all of two seconds before Gabriel smirked and buried a hand in Jesse’s unkempt hair, angling his head backwards. Jesse opened his mouth in an exhale and couldn’t help how his eyes drooped at Gabriel’s firm hold on him. He could see the man clench his jaw, how his tongue darted out as he observed Jesse before him.

 _Te amo, Jessito_.

Gabriel’s words from last night suddenly popped into his head, and his eyes widened minutely, a blush warming his cheeks. The question burned in his mind, had he meant it? Had he just been blissfully out of it and hadn’t found other words of praise? Jesse’s Spanish was pretty rusty, maybe it wasn’t that big of a deal to say to someone?

Gabriel’s face turned into a frown as he studied Jesse’s face.

“Is something wrong?” He asked, concern in his voice.

Jesse closed his mouth to swallow around a dry throat. “No! I, uh—I was just remembering that Jannik said he’ll be back soon. We should probably get you dressed this time.” Jesse managed to end his sentence with a small laugh.

Gabriel didn’t look that convinced, but he loosened his grip on Jesse’s hair, smoothing it out and behind one ear, then went to step out of Jesse’s hold to look at the clothes that lay on top of the bed. With a raised eyebrow, he examined the items, picked the pants up and slipped them on. Just as Jesse had expected, they fit him very snugly, and he whistled in appreciation.

Not acknowledging Jesse at all, Gabriel pulled the sweater over his head, its sleeves _just_ on the side of too short. It looked too comical on Gabriel and Jesse couldn’t help but snort.

“That’s it, we’re gonna stop at my dorm before we go to Jack.” Gabriel grumbled and collected his discarded clothing from the last night and this morning.

“Alright, will you still go commando though?” Jesse breathed in his ear playfully after he had jumped off the bed and got an elbow in the ribs for it.

“Not if I can help it.” Gabriel muttered and opened the door for them.

“Aw, ain’t that a shame.” Jesse wheezed as he trailed behind him.

_Te amo._

Fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who else is fucking hyped for the new Gabriel content we're getting from Blizzard!?!?


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m writing this for you guys from my grave because the soldier24 skin officially killed me. Yeah, now enjoy <3

It took them all of two minutes to arrive at Gabriel’s dorm, Jesse had a field trip watching the man as he was trying to play it cool in front of the other people wandering the corridors, because when he had actually started walking, his nicely shaped butt wanted to eat his burrowed pants. What a sight that had been.

“Wipe that grin off your face,” Gabriel grumbled as he closed the door behind him, already tugging at the sweatshirt, almost tearing it in his hurry to undress.

“You’re eager to get naked in front of me. _Again_.” Jesse couldn’t have stopped grinning, even if he had tried. Being in Gabriel’s room again felt like coming home, he realized. It was clean and tidy as usual and so comforting.

“Seems I’m spoiling you today.” Gabriel remarked with a wink, when he moved to his closet and retrieved a shirt in his size. As he slipped into it, Jesse pouted in disappointment.

“More like teasin’.” Jesse huffed and looked around some more, now that he finally had the opportunity. Crossing the distance to Gabriel’s desk, something caught his eye, a shiny wooden acoustic guitar sat in the corner of it, half hidden behind the chair. Jesse’s eyes went wide, the urge to grab and inspect it made his hands twitch.

“D’you play?” Jesse asked in awe as he pointed to the instrument, Gabe half turning to see what he meant.

“Used to. But, not lately.” Was all he answered, already turning around again to put on a pair of shoes.

“Well, that’s a darn shame.” Jesse mumbled and let his eyes wander further upwards, falling upon the few framed photos on the desk. He couldn’t recognize many people in them besides Ana Amari and Reinhardt Wilhelm, but then he found one with Gabriel and Jack in it, standing close together with Jack’s hand on Gabe’s shoulder and both smiling cockily into the camera. Gabe’s hair was longer in it, the sides still shaved though, and the scar over his nose was missing. He was wearing his trademark mustache, but he had stubble reaching up his jaw in addition to it.

He looked hot as all hell. Not that he didn’t look hot _now_ , but there was something boyish and roguish about his look in the photo which appealed to Jesse’s adventurous side.

“Well slap my ass and call me Rosie. You should grow your hair out again.” Jesse exclaimed with a whistle, at which Gabriel barked a laugh and moved next to him to look at the picture as well.

“Huh, you think so?” Gabriel seemed uncertain, his eyes fell back onto the photo, a sentimental look on his face. “This was Jack and I in SEP.” He reminisced, fondness in his eyes. Jesse’s eyes fell back onto the photo, where he could see that Jack’s hair was shorter than it was now, but he still had the same sunshine of a smile on his face, instantly conjuring one to Jesse’s as well. He remembered Jack telling him about their time in the soldier enhancement program, the fact that they were super soldiers engineered for war. “Jack tells me to do it all the time. And yet I always shave it off…” Gabriel said, deep in thought with one hand brushing over his buzz cut.

“Why’s that?” Jesse asked quietly, unsure if he was pressing too much on Gabriel’s personal reasons.

“Oh, I dunno...” Gabriel mumbled, then suddenly he slapped Jesse’s butt, grabbing it tightly and stepped up to rasp in his ear. “Less maintenance, _Rosie_.” And he nipped at his ear with pearly white teeth. Jesse gasped at the feeling of the resulting sting on his butt and earlobe and Gabriel’s hot breath.

He actually managed to collect himself somewhat, lowering his voice in the process. “Well, I’m so sorry buttercup, but you’re being outvoted two to one on this.” He said breathlessly, trying to catch Gabriel’s eye over his shoulder. Gabriel chuckled and released him again, but he didn’t step away any further.

“I’ll consider it.” Gabriel relented and ruffled Jesse’s hair just to have the younger man try and finger comb it into submission again. “Now, let’s go and get Jack. Hope the morphine wore off, or else he’s gonna want to bang all day from what I’ve seen.”

“And that would be bad, because…?” Jesse squinted at Gabriel and earned another ruffling of his hair for it.

“ _Because_ the doc told us he has to take it easy for another three days, remember?” Gabriel practically scolded him as he was holding the door open.

“I never liked doctors anyway.” Jesse sighed theatrically and moved through the open door. “ _That_ doc, though?” He shook his head. “She’s a real looker.”

“You will keep your paws off of her.” Gabriel chided with a small shove to Jesse’s back as they were making their way towards the medical wing.

Jesse laughed at that. “Hey, I’m jus’ sayin’. Don’t mean nothin’ by it.” He said with hands raised in a placating gesture, winking for good measure, at which Gabriel’s lips curled in reluctant amusement. “I only have eyes for my commanders.”

“Yeah, yeah. Careful who you grace with that charm of yours.” The man said as he leaned in for a more private conversation, they were nearing their destination and now there were more people milling about. “They might fall for you faster than you think.”

Jesse stopped where he was walking, staring after Gabriel, who went on nonchalantly, hands in the pockets of his pants and a half smile on his face.

“You comin’ or what?” Gabe called to him, spurring Jesse back into action. He caught up again in three long strides, trying to appear unaffected by what Gabriel had just told him.

Fall for him… he didn’t want to think about the implications, lest he interpreted too much into it.

They made the rest of their way in silence, with Jesse trying to ignore that budding feeling of hope at Gabriel’s words.

_Te amo._

_Fall for you_ …

Shit, this was killing him. Why wasn’t Gabriel just saying it to him already? He should know that Jesse reciprocated those feelings, right?

Right?

Well, the only time Jesse had ever mentioned something akin to loving him was during their conversation via comm, and that had been in Spanish. _Mi amado_ he had called him. My beloved. Thinking about that now made him blush, that had been quite the bold statement, actually. He had said it in the heat of the moment, but he did not regret it in the least.

The uncertainty made him anxious, like he wanted to grab Gabriel by the collar and just flat out confess his love to him. To have it out of his system and to finally know if the feeling was mutual.

And then there was Jack. Jack, whom Jesse loved just as much. What if Jack didn’t feel like that though, what if he was in love with Gabriel, but not with Jesse? That would surely make things weird, or even end them completely for him. Should he just try and pretend that they didn’t have to take this threeway relationship any further emotionally, or try and press his luck. He really wanted them to know the extent of his feelings for them, no matter if they felt the same just yet.

 _Yeah, like that would be an easy pill to swallow_ , he thought with an inward sigh.

They had reached the doors to the medical bay, Jesse so deep in thought that he didn’t actually notice Jack already outside and waiting for them with crossed arms.

“You took so long, I thought I might as well get out of here myself.” Jack complained, but didn’t seem to be upset at all as he was walking toward them. This seemed to finally shake Jesse from his concerned thoughts, and the young man was able to smile again when he saw Jack out of his sick bed. That had not been a pleasant sight at all, seeing him bandaged and drugged like that.

“How are you feeling?” Gabriel asked him, his arm coming up to rest on Jack’s shoulder, a mix between concern and relief on his face, exactly how Jesse felt right at that moment. The blond seemed to think for a second, then he cocked his head to the side telling the other two to follow him.

“Better, but I’m _starving_.” Jack exclaimed. “Let’s grab some breakfast, I’m in the mood for pancakes.” He said with a grin and so they made their way to the canteen, where they sat down with their plates full of breakfast food. Jack had his laden with pancakes and syrup, Gabriel chose to eat a bowl of fruit salad and Jesse had eggs and bacon, his favourite. As they sat and ate between all the other people, Jesse could observe Jack’s and Gabriel’s silent conversation which didn’t include any actual spoken words, but meaningful glances and gestures. He was wondering if what was going on between the three of them was obvious to outsiders because Jesse was just casually sitting with two commanders, but as he looked around himself he didn’t catch anyone staring at them or even acknowledge them all that much. It gave him a certain peace of mind, not having to worry about gossip which could potentially cause the commanders trouble. Although Gabriel had told him that private affairs were, well, private. He had also said that it could become ugly.

Recruits and commanders being in a relationship did sound pretty imbalanced to him, if he was being honest. But his relationship with Gabe and Jack felt so _right_ , there wasn’t even a hint of power imbalance in there, they were simply three people enjoying each other’s company, ranks forgotten.

Still, Jesse was sure that if he were to become an actual agent of Blackwatch, all these supposed discrepancies would disappear and make their relationship less problematic in the public’s eye. Not that he actually cared what people thought. No, he did care about Jack’s and Gabe’s professional reputation though, and if that meant he had to keep this thing a secret for now, then he would endure it.

The first one to finish their meal was Gabriel, who threw Jesse a look that said ‘follow my lead’ as he got up and left the canteen, Jesse slowed down his chewing to let Jack finish his food before him, who also got up and left with a last glance in his direction. Swallowing the rest of his eggs, Jesse looked around one more time to make sure their little ruse was working. Nobody paid him any mind though, and with a feeling of triumph Jesse deposited his plate on the dirty dish trolley and walked outside of the canteen, a spring in his step.

There was only one place he was sure the other two had gone off to and that was Jack’s dorm. Jesse had never been there before and he was excited to finally see it. As he came up to the door, his hand raised to knock, he was already lamenting the fact that he had to leave them in an hour to get to training. Maybe if he asked real nice, he would be allowed to skip this one day?

He knocked three times and waited patiently for someone to open the door.

“Hey Jesse.” Jack greeted him after pulling the door open and motioned for him to come inside.

“Hey.” Jesse said and stepped over the threshold, his gaze immediately drawn to the big bed on the left side of the room, where a dresser was standing right behind, illuminated by lots of daylight coming from the window on the opposite side of the room. There was a desk similar to that standing in Gabe’s dorm, complete with a few displays showing various data. Of course it was spotless in here as well.

“Must be nice bein’ commander.” Jesse remarked with a gesture to all that was Jack’s dorm.

Jack laughed at that and closed the door. “It does have its benefits.” He admitted while moving towards Jesse. Once he’d reached him, Jack wound his arms around the younger man’s waist. “Gabe’s gone to get something done. And I thought we could use the opportunity to do some catching up.” While he said that, his mouth connected with Jesse’s neck, kissing along its curve of it until he reached his face. “Gabe has had a head start on me after all.”

“That—” Jesse was interrupted by lips on his, but he pulled away for a second. “That is a great idea.” He managed to end his sentence and laid his arms around Jack’s shoulders to kiss him even more. “But the doc said you need to—”

“Take it slow, I know.” Jack finished for him with a smirk. “And I will, trust me.” Then he surged back in to lick Jesse’s mouth open, at which the latter moaned in pleasure. “But I really need to feel you right now.” His hands started moving underneath Jesse’s shirt to caress his back and sides, making Jesse shiver and gasp with the feeling of it. “You got me all riled up yesterday.”

Jesse snickered. “And Gabe thought those were the drugs.”

“It was most definitely you, sweetheart.” Jack grinned and simply went ahead by pulling Jesse’s shirt over his head.

“You know, I love it when you call me that.” Jesse admitted with rosy cheeks.

Humming, Jack pulled him close again, his hand cupping the side of Jesse’s face and staring at him with the softest blue eyes.

“And I love the way you react to it.” Jack rasped before they claimed each other’s lips again. Holding on to Jack tightly, Jesse closed his eyes and concentrated on what he was feeling. Desire, passion, excitement and love were bringing his blood to a boil, even though they had barely gotten started. And they weren’t even allowed to go much further than this, Jack’s injury prevented him from doing anything too strenuous on his body. But Jesse would be patient, they could do something else after all.

Just then he remembered how Gabriel had enjoyed the way Jesse had taken control last night, surely Jack would appreciate it too. Setting his mind on his goal to keep Jack from over exerting himself, Jesse followed his lead and removed the blond’s shirt with deft hands. Where there used to be a bandage covering half of his abdomen, there now was only a small patch on top of his wound, but it reminded Jesse of the reality of Jack’s current condition.

When Jack reached for him again, Jesse smiled ambiguously and took the man’s head between his hands to kiss him long and hard, moving them both in the direction of the bed and finally pushing Jack down to straddle his legs.

“I think you should let me take the reins on this one, darlin’.” Jesse said with a wink and laid his palm in the center of Jack’s chest who leaned back on his elbows while biting his lip suggestively.

“Go ahead, cowboy.”

Giving Jack bedroom eyes, Jesse went off the bed to get to work and pulled the man’s pants down, leaving him in nothing but his grey boxer briefs which hugged him like a second skin and showed off his half erect cock. Unconsciously, Jesse licked his lips in anticipation for what was to come, then slowly ran his hands up the insides of Jack’s thighs until he reached said dick to mouth it through the cotton fabric. Jack’s eyes dilated, darkening their color to that of midnight as Jesse was holding his gaze during that little bit of teasing. Inhaling Jack’s unique scent, Jesse used his fingers to pull at the elastic and gently pulled them down, mindful of his straining dick.

After depositing the boxer briefs on the floor, Jesse leaned back in to take a hold of Jack in one hand, finally breaking eye contact to kiss his length, then he opened his mouth to give it a lick right up to the head, which he took into his mouth with a pleased hum. As he gave in to his curiosity and stole a peek at Jack’s face, Jesse could see that he was doing a good job of it already; Jack’s eyes were closed and his mouth was opened while he breathed deeply, clearly enjoying himself. So he went a little further, his mouth slid farther down until his lips touched his fingers, then he sucked and he could feel Jack’s thighs tense minutely under him. Never would Jesse have thought that his blowjob skills would give him this sense of fulfilment like they did now and had when he had been allowed to pleasure Gabriel in this way. But he was so glad to have them.

“Hm, Jesse.” Jack sighed and lifted a hand to brush through Jesse’s hair lovingly. “You look just as beautiful as Gabe does when he sucks me off.”

Jesse didn’t know what it was about what Jack had just said; maybe that he had called him beautiful or how he compared him to _Gabriel The Hunk Reyes_ , but it made him swallow his dick entirely.

Jack _gasped_ and it gave Jesse the biggest feeling of satisfaction ever as he held the shaft in his throat with pride.

“Oh, _shit_.” Jack cursed and fisted his hand in the other’s hair, holding Jesse in place for a heart beat before letting go again. And the timing was just right, Jesse wasn’t sure for how long he would have been able to hold his breath and now he was swallowing saliva and breathing in the much needed oxygen. “Aren’t you full of surprises.” Jack breathed in awe and swiped his thumb over Jesse’s mouth.

With a dark chuckle, Jesse licked his lips. “Oh, but I haven’t even started yet.” He said and guided Jack’s cock back into his mouth to suck him sloppily. With a moan, Jack leaned back and gave Jesse all the room to move his head up and down between his thighs. Now that Jack had gotten a taste of what Jesse was capable of, he was determined to deliver and blow his mind. So Jesse kept on pleasuring him with his mouth and tongue, spit running down Jack’s dick and over Jesse’s fingers until he removed his hand completely again and deep throated him once more. The sounds coming from the man were spurring him on and Jesse started bobbing his head, sliding Jack’s length down and up his throat in a steady rhythm.

“Fuck, you’re amazing.” Jack exhaled and watched Jesse through hooded eyes. Jesse simply adored the way Jack was looking at that moment, pupils blown wide, a deep blush on his cheeks and his face warped in pleasure, all because of what he was doing to him. So he made a show of his next downstroke, fondling Jack’s balls in one hand and enjoying their weight. “Such a gorgeous mouth,” He could hear Jack’s breath stutter between his words. “Perfect for cock sucking.” A moan. “You really want me to come. Don’t you, sweetheart?”

Jesse’s dick twitched with lust, sometime during his performance he had become hard himself. Pleasuring Jack was turning him on immensely and just imagining to finally get a taste of the man’s release made him hump the air. Humming in acquiescence, Jesse hollowed his cheeks to really let him feel that he wanted just that.

“Hm, yes. Do you want in on your pretty face?” Jack ground out through his teeth, his hand touching Jesse where he would feel his own dick bulging the other’s throat. “Or in here?”

Jack’s dirty talk was making it hard for Jesse to concentrate on what he was doing; slide down and ignore his gag reflex and back up to take a quick breath through his nose and repeat, all the while his own dick was begging for attention and wetting his pants with precum. As much as he loved doing this, he was becoming desperate for some sort of friction on his own erection and the soreness in his jaw was growing more and more uncomfortable. With a desperate moan he grabbed Jack’s hips to pull himself forward and buried his nose in his short blond pubes, holding himself there before letting go and doing it again.

That seemed to finally shut Jack up, his hand had buried itself in Jesse’s hair again loosely, he was holding his breath while his eyes were falling shut and his hips stuttered forward to meet Jesse’s every downstroke until he stilled completely with his hand in Jesse’s hair holding him in place and releasing inside Jesse’s mouth who swallowed everything Jack had to give.

As he slid out of Jesse’s throat, Jack made a small noise and when Jesse stopped him from moving further away to milk every last drop of his cum onto his tongue he bit his lip in fascination. The taste of Jack was just as lovely as Jesse had imagined and he licked the last traces of him off his lips in pleasure. When next he looked at Jack, there was the softest expression on the man’s face, it filled Jesse’s heart with pure love.

“Come here.” Jack purred and pulled Jesse up onto the bed with him, where he embraced him tightly and kissed his swollen lips. “Now I understand what Gabe meant when he said you sucked his soul.” Jack snickered and traced the shell of Jesse’s ear, who smiled at him affectionately. With a last kiss to Jesse’s nose he whispered “Thank you.” And somehow _that_ was what made Jesse blush. “I guess it’s my turn now.” Already getting up from next to Jesse, Jack went for the youth’s pants, but Jesse was quick to react.

“It’s fine, you don’t have to do anything, Jack. I did this because I wanted to and not ‘cause I expect you to do the same for me.” Jesse explained with his roughened voice and hoped that Jack would listen. _You are hurt, please just rest_ , is what Jesse meant and maybe he should have said this instead because Jack’s eyebrows rose, then he shimmied forward to push a knee between Jesse’s legs and leaned forward to take a hold of his hands. Positioning them above Jesse’s head, Jack bent down to him.

“I see what you’re trying to do.” Jack rumbled in Jesse’s ear, his breath causing a shiver to run down Jesse’s spine. “Is this payback for when I didn’t let you touch me before?” He pushed his knee up into Jesse’s crotch and nipped at his ear, making the latter moan with want.

“No, I just— _ah!_ ” The knee at his groin was pushing harder now, effectively silencing what Jesse was about to say.

“Don’t you want me to take care of you?” Jack whispered into his ear hotly and Jesse scrunched his eyes closed to try and collect himself, but failing miserably. Why was he trying to stop Jack again? It surely wasn’t because he didn’t want him with every fiber of his being.

“Fuck...of course I do, but— _oh_ —you’re still hurt.” Jesse finally managed to say in between grinding against that knee and raised pleading eyes to Jack, who seemed to understand what he was trying to say.

“I told you, I’m not going to do anything too strenuous.” Jack reassured him and kissed Jesse softly.

 _Well...I tried_ , was all Jesse thought and kissed Jack back with vigour now. The need to feel him was overwhelming in its intensity, Jesse moaned wantonly when Jack let go of his hands to finally divest him of the last of his clothing. With a warm hand on Jesse’s side, Jack signalled him to turn around and he did, his head coming to rest on a fluffy pillow.

Soon he felt Jack’s warm breath on his back wandering down to his butt cheeks and thighs, where his hands joined in and brushed over his skin gently, a kiss was pressed there before those hands urged him to get onto his knees. Just doing this act of baring himself to Jack was making his cheeks hot and his dick twitched with lust. Jack fell on him like a starving man, he dove right in with his lips and tongue, determined to get Jesse wet and messy in no time. All Jesse could do was mewl into the pillow he clung to while he was being pleasured in this way.

It felt so goddamn amazing and it made him remember the fact that Jack had almost succeeded in driving him over the edge without even touching his cock before and he was sure that he’d manage this time.

“God, _Jack_ …” Jesse breathed into the pillow, already dampening it with his drool, but he didn’t care. The feeling of Jack’s hot tongue lapping at him with such desire behind it was so intoxicating that Jesse had started pushing back at him.

“Do you want more?” Thumbs pressing into Jesse’s butt, dangerously close to his hole, Jack bit him there lightly, eliciting another moan from the youth.

“ _Yes!_ ”

And so Jack continued his ministrations, his thumbs massaging the rim of Jesse’s entrance until one slipped inside, at which Jesse shuddered and arched his back to get him to push it in even further.

Jack chuckled darkly. “Greedy.” He commented, but indulged Jesse by adding more saliva to ease his finger’s passage. Slowly, Jack fucked him open on his thumb, careful to add enough spit to make it comfortable. While his finger was buried to the knuckle in Jesse, Jack stroked the other hand over Jesse’s back. “If you want more, I’ll need to get the lube.” He informed him, at which Jesse only nodded. Without another word, Jack gently removed his hand and smoothed over Jesse’s trembling legs to signal him to lay back down and relax. When Jesse had done just that, the youth sighed and watched what the other was doing. Jack bent over to the bedside table to retrieve a small bottle, which he opened and poured a generous amount of its clear content onto his hand. Next he grabbed another pillow and stuffed it beneath Jesse’s crotch, even the small friction of the soft pillow against his dick made Jesse moan at which Jack brushed a comforting hand over his butt.

Then there was no contact at all before a slick finger found its way back to his ass, already worming its way inside but way easier now than before.

“Fuuuck…” Jesse cursed at the ease with which he was being penetrated, it felt absolutely wonderful. Suddenly, the bed dipped right next to him, Jack had draped himself half atop of Jesse while he was fingering him and started kissing his neck. Then another finger joined the first one, the stretch it created was absolutely perfect, making Jesse gasp and arch his back once more, which Jack used to capture his lips over his shoulder.

This almost felt like Jack was actually fucking him, the way they were moving together and how they kissed. Even though Jesse was sure that Jack’s cock would have felt even better, he would have been absolutely fine to come on his fingers alone.

 _Fuck me!_ Jesse wanted to scream, but somewhere in his mind he knew that Jack wasn’t supposed to just yet and told himself to keep his stupid mouth shut, because he was sure that Jack would do whatever he asked of him right then. So he clenched his jaw while he pushed back onto Jack’s fingers in his ass, imagining it was his cock instead. Yes, he could feel his orgasm approaching, just a few more strokes and he’d be there, but just then Jack slowed down, making Jesse groan in frustration.

“I think you’re ready for the real deal.” Jack whispered filthily and Jesse was all too eager to agree, but didn’t because he didn’t want to push Jack to do this while he wasn’t _fucking supposed to_.

“You can’t, Jack. Gabriel would be pissed if your wound opened again.” Honestly, Jesse was impressed with himself for being able to form this entire sentence while he was speared on Jack’s fingers. But he had to stop Jack from mounting  him and moving those hips to languidly fuck Jesse on his glorious dick, while he was begging for more, and...where was he going with this again? Right, Jack wasn’t supposed to move much, and _fucking_ would include just that.

“Damn right I’d be pissed.” Gabriel suddenly chimed in from Jesse’s right, causing Jesse’s head to whip around and spot the man standing in the doorway looking unphased by what he was witnessing.

“Oh, hey Gabe.” Jack greeted him cheerfully, totally at odds with what he was currently doing.

“Gab—” But Jesse had to stop and gasp when Jack resumed his lazy movements in and out of his hole. He drew a long moan from him when he pushed against that spot that made his entire body tremble.

“Keep going, Jack.” Gabriel commanded as he was moving towards the bed and for the second time that day removed his sweater and pants in front of Jesse in the short distance it took him to reach the bed.

Right after he had joined them, Gabriel added his spice to the mix by guiding Jack’s face to his with a single finger at the blond’s chin and kissing him deeply, at which the latter sighed in contentment. After they pulled apart again it was Jesse’s turn to be kissed and he gladly accepted. The fingers  inside him disappeared and then he was rearranged so he was lying on his side, his lips still locked with Gabriel’s.

Gabriel moved away first and just as Jesse was reaching for him, he was pulled on top of Jack, who had lain down beside him. Now he sat spread eagle on top of his legs, their erections touching. What a sight, Jesse thought and swallowed unconsciously. Moving his hips tentatively, he brought their cocks into more contact, making Jack and himself moan at his action. Even Gabriel gave a pleased hum from where he was laying next them, just watching.

Damn, but that felt _nice_. Jack was giving him the sexiest look, full of desire and longing and it made Jesse reach out a hand to lay on the man’s chest as he stared in his eyes.

The moment seemed to slow down before him, their breathing synchronized and Jack’s heart beating steadily where he could feel it beneath his palm. The comforting presence that was Jack and Gabriel together here with him made him feel so special, safe, and loved. As tears burned behind his eyes, Jesse broke the eye contact with Jack and looked to the side. His throat was hurting as he tried to swallow around the lump in it, when had he gotten from horny to emotional?

Angry at himself for ruining the moment, Jesse wiped at his face with his free hand, when he felt Gabriel get up beside him and lay a hand on the back of his neck. There was no pull, nothing but his hand resting there, giving Jesse all the time to decide whether he wanted to tell him why he was upset all of a sudden, or not. When he finally managed to look at him, it was with a sad smile.

“‘M sorry…” Jesse said with a quiet laugh, his eyes darting between the two men. “I didn’t want to ruin this.” Oh no, the tears were threatening to fall any second now, he sniffed once. “I just have to tell you... somethin’ really important, before—” He swallowed again but didn’t finish his sentence.

The same expression was on both Jack’s and Gabriel’s faces: concern, but also encouragement for him to confide in them.

“I—” Staring between one and the other, Jesse suddenly didn’t know which one to look at, so he scrunched his eyes closed.

_Just say it, you coward._

“I love you. Both of you. _I’m in love with you_.”

Silence rang after his words, heavy and oppressing, Jesse didn’t dare open his eyes again in fear of what he might see on their faces. Oh god, he’d said it. Really told them how he felt. Was he crazy? Did he so desperately want to ruin this relationship that’s barely existed for a few weeks? He could feel his heart constrict in worry and his belly doing backflips from where he was sitting on top of Jack, still quite intimately connected to him, but also to Gabriel whose hand remained on Jesse’s neck and which started to gently squeeze him there, making Jesse reluctantly open his eyes to finally meet his fears.

What he saw wasn’t revulsion or pity, it was admiration and affection, happiness and _love_. Gabriel was the first to respond, pulling Jesse to him and meeting him halfway with a beautiful smile to bring their foreheads together.

“And I love you, Jessito. So fucking _much_.” Gabriel told him with a slight waver in his voice, then he moved an inch away to beam at him, both his hands now cradling Jesse’s head to give him a long and heartfelt kiss, which Jesse reciprocated with the highest feeling of elation he had ever felt.

Beneath him Jack struggled to sit upright with a wince, but also with the biggest smile on his face and when he was finally sitting up he cupped Jesse’s face in one hand. Jesse’s eyes moved from Gabriel to Jack who also pulled their heads together.

“I love you too, Jesse. With all my heart.” He said softly, his blue eyes shining.

And the tears finally fell, big fat drops on his arms and chest, but he didn’t care. All that mattered right now was that they _loved_ him, really loved him, and Jesse could have screamed his joy from the highest mountains, for everyone to hear until he was hoarse and then some more. But he didn’t, in an act of spontaneous euphoria he wound his arms around them so the three embraced each other while Jesse tried to stop his tears from coming. There was no need to cry after all, he was _happy_.

So fucking happy.

When he pulled away, he saw that Gabriel’s eyes had gotten misty as well and a laugh bubbled out of him at the sight.

“You stop that or I have to cry too.” Jack joked, but it was evident in the way his voice broke that he was tearing up himself.

“Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that, darlin’.” Countered Jesse and because he needed to give the overpowering emotion inside of him some kind of vent, he resumed what Jack and him had originally been doing. Grinding down against the man had them both in the mood again in no time, their cocks sliding together.

“Aren’t you two a sight.” Gabriel commented breathlessly from where he kneeled, his big hand creeping forward to hold their two erections in it, causing Jesse’s hips to stutter where he was moving against Jack and now into that warm first. Closing his eyes in pleasure, Jesse couldn’t see how Jack moved in on him for another kiss, but boy did he welcome it. Their tongues slid over each other sensually, sloppily and oh so filthily that it turned Jesse on so much he thought he might come right then.

“Come on. Ride me, cowboy.” Jack suggested hotly into his mouth and Jesse whined at that, eager to do it. Having him do all the moving was the perfect solution to their little problem too, why hadn’t he thought of that before? It must have been Jack’s plan all along, that was why he had promised Jesse that he wouldn’t do anything too strenuous, because _Jesse_ was going to do all the work. Smirking at the realization, Jesse nipped at Jack’s swollen bottom lip.

“Gabe?” Was all Jack had to say and the other man seemed to understand exactly what he was trying to communicate with only that one word. The hand which wasn’t currently stroking them retrieved the discarded bottle of lube, then he uncapped it with his teeth and poured the stuff directly over his hand and their joined dicks, the cool substance in shocking contrast to the hot friction. Soon it had warmed in Gabriel’s hand though and again Jesse marveled at the easy slide the slick gel provided as he stared transfixed at where they were joined.

“That’s good.” Jack ground out. “Thanks, Gabe.” Like Gabriel had just handed him the newspaper.

“No problem, _mi amor_ [my love].” Gabriel smiled and kissed Jack on the nose. “Let me help you some more.” He told them both as he removed his slickened hand to reach around Jesse’s back where he gently probed his hole with two fingers. Sidling up to him, he murmured into Jesse’s ear. “Hmm, you’re already nicely prepared, _cariño_. Do you think you’re ready for Jack’s cock?” He asked him hotly while Jesse enjoyed the fingers inside him and only nodded frantically.

He was so ready for this.

Without another word, Gabriel slid his fingers outside and got into position behind him, taking a hold of Jesse’s thighs to have him on his knees above Jack, who was lying down again. Beneath him, Jesse could see Gabriel’s hand reaching out to grab Jack’s cock to line it up with Jesse’s slick hole where the fingers of is other hand were lightly touching his rim. Jesse shivered when he felt Jack’s hot cock brush against his entrance.

“Easy now.” Gabriel purred in his ear where he was flush against his back. “Lower yourself, _slowly_.”

And Jesse did. The blunt head of Jack’s dick gradually pressed against him, and holding his breath when he actually felt the difference in size between a damn dick and a few fingers, Jesse’s eyes scrunched shut in concentration, only to open again slightly at the feeling of someone jerking him off. Jack’s face was taut with desire and his tongue darted out while he was watching Gabriel guiding Jesse onto his cock as he was stroking the younger man to ease the proceedings.

Then he was breached entirely, Jack’s cockhead slipped inside, Jesse whined low in his throat at the slight burn. Holy hell, this was unlike anything Jesse had ever experienced before.

“That’s it, _novio_ [sweetheart].” Gabriel praised him from behind, which caused Jesse’s hips to jerk forward slightly and impaled him just an inch further on Jack. A curse escaped him. Sweat had formed on his skin where he was perched, his thigh muscles were trembling with the effort to hold himself upright. How much he wanted to just sink down completely and feel all of Jack inside him, but he knew he had to do this slowly to let is body adjust in order not to get hurt.

With a small apologetic chuckle, Gabriel kissed his shoulder and helped him stay upright with the hand he removed from steadying Jack’s cock. As he looked at Jack he could see him clench in his jaw when he stared back into Jesse’s eyes, still jacking Jesse off in long strokes.

Moaning pitifully, Jesse dared to lower himself farther down, making the both of them grunt. The next inch went smoother than the ones before and Jesse was done being patient, so he held his breath and pushed down the rest of the way in one fluid motion.

He might have underestimated the feeling of being filled so completely and now he was sitting there, gasping for breath and struggling to relax. Meanwhile, Jack was moaning underneath him, clearly enjoying the tight grip Jesse’s insides had on him.

“Breathe, Jesse.” Gabriel reminded him, and the youth inhaled sharply in between small moans and dry sobs. “I’ve got you.” That really helped him to relax some more and he let himself fall back into Gabriel, who wound his arms around him, and his head came to rest on the other’s shoulder. “How’s it feel?”

“It’s—” Another shallow breath. “It’s so big. So... _good_.” The last word ended in a moan as Jack’s hand had resumed its stroking, once again making Jesse’s hips jut forward and Jack’s cock move inside him slightly. “Jesus…” Jesse cursed and bit his lip. He was slowly adjusting to the man’s girth and started moving his hips on purpose, small circles at first, but those already felt amazing.

With an approving hum, Jack rubbed him firmer, more slowly, like he wanted to set a pace for Jesse’s movements and the latter quickly caught on, undulating his hips in the slow rhythm of Jack’s strokes until only Jesse was doing the moving, pushing forward into Jack’s hand and riding the man’s dick with mounting pleasure. Noises were erupting from him at the sheer sensational overload that was crashing down on him, and when Gabriel started kissing his neck right at his weak spot, he whined pathetically.

The orgasm was approaching exceptionally fast, with Jesse having been on the brink for so long already, and he gripped Gabriel’s arm around him tightly in anticipation.

“I’m gunna—” Jesse began, but suddenly Jack moved beneath him, he had sat up again to claim Jesse’s lips with his, one hand still on his dick, the other over Jesse’s shoulder on Gabe’s back, and now Jesse was completely lost. From behind him, Gabriel was kissing his neck between Spanish declarations of love, his arms around him securely and Jack kissing him senseless in front, while Jesse himself  was still rocking his hips back and forth as he was nearing the edge.

“Come for me, sweetheart.” Jack rasped into his mouth and Jesse’s body acted on its own as he could feel Jack actively moving his hips with him, meeting his downstrokes and then he was riding this wave of pleasure washing over him until all he could feel was Jack’s cock pulsing to spill his release inside him and Gabriel draped around him, warm and comforting as he came undone between them with a broken chant of “Love you.” over and over.

Slowly, he came back down from the high.

As he lay there in Gabriel’s arms, body turned to jelly and catching his breath, he wondered if he could ever feel more content in his life than he did at exactly this moment, with Jack and Gabriel around him and he smiled to himself.

Jack’s warm breath ghosted over his lips in a chuckle. “Enjoyed yourself?” He asked with drooping eyes, broadening the smile on Jesse’s face.

“ _Darlin’_ ,” Jesse began in awe, “Ain’t never felt nothin’ like this before.” And he raised a hand to cup Jack’s chiseled jaw in it. They kissed slowly, lovingly and parted again, then Jesse used his hand to pull Gabriel into a kiss over his shoulder. Suddenly Jesse felt bad for neglecting Gabriel like that, he had helped Jesse so sweetly, he would make sure to thank him properly. His kissing turned more heated, his tongue darted out into the cavern of Gabe’s mouth, who hummed in surprise and pulled away a little with a smirk.

“Hm, still horny I see. Was Jack’s dick not satisfying enough?” He rose a challenging eyebrow at Jack, who snorted and rolled his hips once. All the breath left Jesse, as he felt Jack move inside his oversensitive ass and he hissed with the pleasure-pain of it.

“No, no, no. I’m g—good.” Jesse yelped and held onto Jack’s waist steady himself. The feeling was too intense for him right now, too raw, and from the look of it Jack was aware of that.

The smug bastard.

Jesse tried to punch his arm in retaliation, but his fist was caught with lightning reflexes and he was pulled forward away from Gabe into Jack, who brought his hand down on Jesse’s ass and pressed him down onto Jack’s cock. Between them, Jesse’s cum was smeared and spread on their skin.

“I love how you feel around me, so hot and perfect.” Jack rumbled into his ear. “I don’t want to let you go.”

Jesse could only whimper weakly as he felt Jack move inside him shallowly, slick and wet. When before he had thought he needed a break, Jack’s ministrations started to feel so _good_ again and he moaned while scratching his blunt nails over the other’s back.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to. You need to rest.” Gabriel reminded Jack with a smile in his voice, his hands came around Jesse to practically lift him out of Jack’s lap, eliciting a grunt from the youth as the cock slid out of him. Already he missed its presence inside him, it left a strange emptiness behind.

“In fact, we all could use a little rest right now.” Gabe suggested, pulling Jesse down with him onto the bed between him and Jack.

“But what about you?” While Jack and Jesse had had amazing sex, Gabriel had been the one left out and it didn’t sit right with him. Laying one leg over Gabe’s thighs, Jesse got closer to nip at the man’s ear. “You haven’t had any fun yet, want me to ride you, too?” By now he felt confident in being able to take either of their dicks, was actually eager to feel Gabriel’s right now.

Gabriel chuckled. “Oh, _dulcito_. This little break is as much for me as it is for you.” Gabriel said as he brushed a stray lock of hair behind Jesse’s ear.

“What do you mean?” Why would he need a break, he hadn’t done much yet.

“I mean that I need some time to cool off, seeing you and Jack fuck, the sounds you made, it kinda drove me wild, and your sweet ass couldn’t handle me right now. Trust me.” He told him with a kiss to his temple.

Jesse swallowed, the implication sent a shudder through him. _Fuck_ . Laughing nervously, but still _turned on_ , Jesse settled down to embrace Gabriel and decided it was a good idea to listen to the man. From behind, Jack laid his arm around him and snuggled up to kiss Jesse’s shoulder.

“You did really well for your first rodeo, cowboy.” Jack remarked and nipped at Jesse’s ear, who chuckled and turned his head around to face the man.

“Yeah, well the _bronco_ was a real nice stud.”

From the other side, Gabriel chortled and Jack had difficulty keeping a straight face as well.

“Cheeky.” Was all Jack answered and then he pulled him flush against his chest, closed his eyes and let his fingers slide softly over the other’s flank. Closing the resulting gap between them, Gabriel moved towards Jesse and took the youth’s hand in his, their fingers interlocking, and pulled them up to kiss Jesse’s knuckles. Then he laid their joined hands down on the pillow between them and just _looked_ at him.

Jesse couldn’t help the smile that rose to his cheeks, and then Gabriel said the words that had haunted him ever since he’d first heard them.

“ _Te amo, Jessito_.”

Oh god.

“ _Yo también te amo_. [I love you, too]” Jesse whispered and Gabriel’s eyes widened at that, a bittersweet smile on his face as he surged forward to kiss Jesse one more time.

“You are...amazing.” Gabriel whispered back when he had drawn away, his eyes slightly glassy. Jesse felt like his heart might explode any second at the sheer affection in the man’s face. But words eluded him and so instead he buried his head between Gabe’s neck and shoulder, inhaling his masculine scent, while he was held from behind by Jack.

He wasn’t sure when he had drifted off, but he knew that his last thought was that he had forgotten something.


End file.
